COVID-19 death toll reaches 1,301; cases climb to 39,980

The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 1,301 and the number of cases climbed to 39,980 in the country on Sunday (May 3), according to the Union health ministry.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 28,046, while 10,632 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, the ministry said.

The total number of cases include 111 foreign nationals.

Of the 1,301 deaths, Maharashtra accounts for the maximum with 521 fatalities, followed by Gujarat (262), Madhya Pradesh (151), Rajasthan (65), Delhi (64), Uttar Pradesh (43) and West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh at 33 each.

Interactive: Know the coronavirus stats here

The death toll reached 29 in Tamil Nadu, 28 in Telangana, while Karnataka has reported 25 fatalities due to the disease.

Punjab has registered 20 COVID-19 deaths, Jammu and Kashmir eight, Kerala, Bihar and Haryana have reported four deaths each. Jharkhand has recorded three COVID-19 deaths.
Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Assam have reported a fatality each, according to the ministry data.

This is the third phase of the lockdown, which began on March 25. So after nearly 40 days of lockdown, here’s where we stand:

The recovery rate of COVID-19 cases in India currently stands at 26.5 per cent, a jump from 11 per cent as on April 14. Two days ago, the health ministry had estimated the recovery rate at 25.19 per cent, and a rise of over one per cent in just two days shows a positive trend.

The death rate has, more or less, remained around 3 per cent for over three weeks. The death rate stands at 3.2 per cent on Saturday, which indicates the situation has not worsened over the past few days – a positive side to look out for.

Testing has also been ramped up across the nation even though the nation’s top medical body, Indian Council of Medical Research, has decided to stop using rapid antibody tests, and continue only with the confirmatory RT-PCR tests.