New Delhi:
COVID-19 cases in India saw the biggest spike for the third consecutive day on Sunday with 6,767 new infections reported in the last 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 1,31,868, while the death toll due to the disease rose to 3,867 after 147 more fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry.
India's 70 per cent coronavirus COVID-19 cases are from 11 municipal areas spread across seven states and UTs and top health ministry officials on Saturday held a meeting with senior officials from these areas. These areas are in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and Rajasthan.
The active cases of the coronavirus disease rose to 73,560. While 54,440 people have recovered, one patient has migrated to another country, according to the ministry bulletin.
"Thus, around 41.28 per cent patients have recovered so far," a Health Ministry official said.
The total number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus pandemic includes foreigners.
Of the 147 deaths reported since Saturday morning, 60 were in Maharashtra, 27 in Gujarat, 23 in Delhi, nine in Madhya Pradesh, seven in Rajasthan, five in Tamil Nadu, four each in West Bengal and Telangana, three in Uttar Pradesh, and one each in Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand
Of the total death toll of 3,867, Maharashtra tops the tally with 1,577 deaths, followed by Gujarat at 829, Madhya Pradesh at 281, West Bengal at 269 and Delhi at 231.
Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, said the lockdown decision “by the Prime Minister was early and timely”, and “the way the country effectively implemented it, is an international example”.He said: “The gains of lockdown 1 and 2 (March 25-April 14 and April 15-May 3) are visible now as these gains show after a delay. India’s lockdown was part and parcel of overall strategy starting with travel restrictions, social distancing and mobilising people and state governments. We decided to shut down to stop the chain of transmission to the extent possible…
“Growth rate of new cases till April 3 was increasing at the rate of 22.6%, behaviour of the virus was exponential. After April 4 there is clear slowing of the growth and then it settled at 5.5%. This shows that the country stopped the progression of the virus… Overall we averted between 14-29 lakh cases and 37,000-71,000 deaths.”
The lockdown has “made it difficult for the virus to travel”, Dr Paul said. However, he stressed the need to stay cautious, as a measure like the lockdown could not “go on forever”.
The number of deaths due to the contagion in Rajasthan is 160, while 155 people died in Uttar Pradesh, 103 in Tamil Nadu and 56 in Andhra Pradesh.
The COVID-19 death toll reached 49 in Telangana, 42 in Karnataka and 39 in Punjab. There are 21 fatalities in Jammu and Kashmir, 16 in Haryana and 11 in Bihar.
Seven people have succumbed to the disease in Odisha, and four each in Kerala, Jharkhand and Assam so far.
Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh have recorded three deaths each, while Uttarakhand has recorded two deaths due to the virus. One fatality has been recorded in Meghalaya, the ministry said.
More than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities, according to the ministry's website.
The highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 47,190 followed by Tamil Nadu at 15,512, Gujarat at 13,664 and Delhi at 12,910.
There are 6,742 coronavirus cases in Rajasthan, 6,371 in Madhya Pradesh and 6,017 in Uttar Pradesh. The number of infections has gone up to 3,459 in West Bengal, 2,757 in Andhra Pradesh and 2,380 in Bihar.
As many as 2,045 people have been infected with the virus in Punjab, 1,959 in Karnataka, 1,813 in Telangana, 1,569 in Jammu and Kashmir and 1,269 in Odisha.
In Haryana, 1,132 people are afflicted with the deadly disease, while Kerala has 795 cases, followed by Jharkhand with 350 and 329 in Assam. As many as 244 cases have been reported in Uttarakhand, Chandigarh has reported 225 cases, while 214 people have tested positive for the virus in Chhattisgarh.
A total of 189 people have tested positive in Tripura, while there are 185 cases of the pathogen in Himachal Pradesh, and 55 in Goa. Ladakh has reported 49 COVID-19 cases, while Andaman and Nicobar Islands has registered 33 infections.
Manipur has registered 29 cases and Puducherry has recorded 26 cases. Meghalaya has 14 cases. Dadar and Nagar Haveli has reported two cases, while Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim have recorded one case each
As many as "2,338 cases are being reassigned to states," the ministry said on its website, adding that, "Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR".
Statewide distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said