COVID-19: India nears 3-lakh mark, records 10K cases in 24 hours

India recorded over 10,000 new COVID-19 cases in a day for the first time, taking the tally to 2,97,535, while the death toll rose to 8,498 with a record single-day spike of 396 fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

India on Thursday went past the United Kingdom in terms of coronavirus cases to become the fourth worst-hit country, according to the Worldometer.

The country has registered 10,956 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours till Friday (June 12) 8 am. The number of recoveries are more than the active novel coronavirus cases for the third consecutive day.

The number of active cases stands at 1,41,842, while 1,47,194 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said. “Thus, around 49.47 per cent patients have recovered so far,” an official said. The total number of confirmed cases include foreigners.

Nearly, the situation is grim in seven states, which are Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh.

Though the central government is taking steps to control the rapid spread of the virus, 69 districts in 13 states have case fatality rate (CFR) of five per cent or more against the national average of 2.90 per cent. These states have emerged as “issue of concern” for the Centre.

Of the 396 new deaths reported till Friday morning, 152 were in Maharashtra, 101 in Delhi, 38 in Gujarat, 24 in Uttar Pradesh, 23 in Tamil Nadu, 12 in Haryana, 10 in West Bengal, nine in Telangana, six in Rajasthan, four each in Madhya Pradesh and Punjab, three each in Bihar and Karnataka, two each in Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Puducherry and one in Jammu and Kashmir.

Out of the total 8,498 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 3,590 deaths followed by Gujarat with 1,385 deaths, Delhi with 1,085, West Bengal with 442, Madhya Pradesh with 431, Tamil Nadu with 349, Uttar Pradesh with 345, Rajasthan with 265 and Telangana with 165 deaths. The death toll reached 80 in Andhra Pradesh, 72 in Karnataka, 64 in Haryana  and 59 in Punjab. Jammu and Kashmir has reported 52 fatalities due to the coronavirus disease, while 36 deaths have been reported from Bihar, 18 from Kerala, 15 from Uttarakhand, nine from Odisha and eight from Jharkhand.

Chhattisgarh, Assam and Himachal Pradesh have registered six COVID-19 fatalities each, Chandigarh has five, Puducherry has two, while Meghalaya, Tripura and Ladakh have reported one COVID-19 fatality each, according to ministry data. More than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities, the ministry’s website stated.

The highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 97,648 followed by Tamil Nadu at 38,716, Delhi at 34,687, Gujarat at 22,032, Uttar Pradesh at 12,088, Rajasthan at 11,838 and Madhya Pradesh at 10,241, according to the health ministrys data updated in the morning. The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 9,768 in West Bengal, 6,245 in Karnataka, 5,983 in Bihar and 5,968 in Haryana.

It has risen to 5,429 in Andhra Pradesh, 4,574 in Jammu and Kashmir, 4,320 in Telangana and 3,386 in Odisha. Assam has reported 3,319 novel coronavirus cases so far while Punjab has 2,887 cases.

A total of 2,244 people have been infected by the virus in Kerala and 1,643 in Uttarakhand. Jharkhand has registered 1,599 cases, while 1,398 cases have been reported from Chhattisgarh, 913 from Tripura, 470 from Himachal Pradesh, 417 from Goa, 366 from Manipur and 332 from Chandigarh. Puducherry has 157 COVID-19 cases, Ladakh has 135, Nagaland has 128, Mizoram has 102, Arunachal Pradesh has 61, Meghalaya 44 while Andaman and Nicobar Islands has registered 38 infections so far.

Sikkim has reported 14 cases, while Dadar and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu together have reported 30 infections. The ministry’s website said that 8,315 cases are being reassigned to states and “our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR”. State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said.

(With inputs from agencies)