COVID-19: India records highest-ever spike of 2,003 deaths

India registered the highest-ever spike of 2,003 COVID-19 fatalities pushing the death toll to 11,903 on Wednesday (June 17) after Maharashtra and Delhi added earlier deaths that were not attributed to the disease.

The country’s COVID-19 caseload rose to 3,54,065 with 10,974 new infections being reported in the last 24 hours. Of the 2,003 new deaths, Maharashtra accounted for the highest 1,409 fatalities taking its COVID-19 death tally to 5,537, while coronavirus deaths in Delhi surged by 437 taking its toll to 1,837, according to the Health Ministry data updated at 8 am.

“The sudden surge in deaths is based on entry of data by the states. Maharashtra and Delhi have reconciled data from previous days,” a Health Ministry official said.

Besides, Tamil Nadu has reported 49 deaths followed by Gujarat at 28, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana at 18 each, Madhya Pradesh 11, West Bengal 10, Rajasthan 7, Karnataka 5 and Telangana 4. Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Punjab, Puducherry and Uttarakhand have reported one fatality each in the last 24 hours.

The number of active cases stands at 1,55,227, while 1,86,934 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, according to the official figures. “Thus, around 52.79 per cent patients have recovered so far,” an official said.

India registered over 10,000 cases for the sixth day in a row. The total number of confirmed cases include foreigners. India is the fourth worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the US, Brazil and Russia.

According to the Johns Hopkins University, which has been compiling COVID-19 data from all over the world, India is at the eighth position in terms of the death toll.

Of the total 11,903 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 5,537 fatalities followed by Delhi with 1,837 deaths, Gujarat with 1,533, Tamil Nadu with 528, West Bengal with 495, Madhya Pradesh with 476, Uttar Pradesh with 417, Rajasthan with 308 and Telangana with 191 deaths.

The COVID-19 death toll reached 118 in Haryana, 94 in Karnataka, 88 in Andhra Pradesh, 72 in Punjab, 63 in Jammu and Kashmir, 41 in Bihar, 25 in Uttarakhand, 20 in Kerala and 11 in Odisha. Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have registered 9 deaths each while Assam and Himachal Pradesh have recorded 8 deaths each. Chandigarh and Puducherry have reported 6 deaths each while Meghalaya, Tripura and Ladakh have reported one fatality each, according to the Health Ministry.

More than 70 per cent deaths have happened due to comorbidities, the ministry said. Maharashtra has reported maximum number of cases at 1,13,445 followed by Tamil Nadu at 48,019, Delhi at 44,688, Gujarat at 24,577, Uttar Pradesh at 14,091, Rajasthan at 13,216 and West Bengal at 11,909, according to the Health Ministrys data.

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 11,083 in Madhya Pradesh, 8,272 in Haryana, 7,530 in Karnataka and 6,778 in Bihar. It has risen to 6,841 in Andhra Pradesh, 5,406 in Telangana, 5,298 in Jammu and Kashmir, 4,319 in Assam and 4,163 in Odisha. Punjab has reported 3,371 novel coronavirus cases so far, while Kerala has 2,622 cases.

A total of 1,942 people have been infected by the virus in Uttarakhand, 1,839 in Jharkhand, 1,781 in Chhattisgarh, 1,092 in Tripura, 649 in Ladakh, 629 in Goa, 560 in Himachal Pradesh and 500 in Manipur. Chandigarh has registered 358 COVID-19 cases, Puducherry has 216 cases, Nagaland has 179, Mizoram has 121, Arunachal Pradesh has 95, Sikkim has 70, Dadar and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu together have reported 45 COVID-19 cases. Meghalaya and Andaman and Nicobar Islands have registered 44 infections so far.

“Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR,” the ministry said, adding 8,273 cases are being reassigned to states. State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it added.