India becomes the fifth worst-hit nation by the Covid-19 pandemic in just 127 days

THE death toll due to the Covid-19 pandemic in India rose to 7,135 and the number of cases climbed to 256,611, after it registered 206 fatalities and a record single-day spike of 9,983 cases till Monday (8), the health ministry said.

Now, India is the fifth worst-hit nation by the disease after the US, Brazil, Russia and the UK, according to the Johns Hopkins University data. In just 127 days infections in the country crossed the 250,000 mark.  India reported its first Covid-19 infection on January 30.

The number of active novel coronavirus cases stands at 125,381 while 124,094 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, the health ministry said.

Of the 206 deaths reported since Sunday (7) morning, 91 were in Maharashtra, 30 in Gujarat, 18 each in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, 13 each in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, nine in Rajasthan, four in Haryana, two each in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand, and one each in Odisha and Punjab.

Out of the total 7,135 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 3,060 deaths followed by Gujarat with 1,249 deaths, Delhi with 761, Madhya Pradesh with 412, West Bengal with 396, Uttar Pradesh with 275, Tamil Nadu with 269, Rajasthan with 240 and Telangana with 123 deaths.

The death toll reached 75 in Andhra Pradesh, 61 in Karnataka and 51 in Punjab.  Jammu and Kashmir has reported 41 fatalities due to the coronavirus disease, while 30 deaths have been reported from Bihar, 28 from Haryana, 15 from Kerala, 13 from Uttarakhand, nine from Odisha and seven from Jharkhand. Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh have registered five Covid-19 fatalities each and Assam and Chhattisgarh have recorded four deaths each so far.

Meghalaya and Ladakh have reported one Covid-19 fatality each, according to the ministry.  More than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities.

The highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 85,975 followed by Tamil Nadu at 31,667, Delhi at 27,654, Gujarat at 20,070, Rajasthan at 10,599, Uttar Pradesh at 10,536 and Madhya Pradesh at 9,401, according to the health ministry's data on Monday.

The number of Covid-19 cases has gone up to 8,187 in West Bengal, 5,452 in Karnataka, 5,088 in Bihar and 4,708 in Andhra Pradesh. It has risen to 4,448 in Haryana, 4,087 in Jammu and Kashmir, 3,580 in Telangana and 2,856 in Odisha. Punjab has reported 2,608 novel coronavirus cases so far while Assam has 2,565 cases.

A total of 1,914 people have been infected by the virus in Kerala and 1,355 in Uttarakhand. Jharkhand has registered 1,099 cases, while 1,073 cases have been reported from  Chhattisgarh, 800 from Tripura, 413 from Himachal Pradesh, 314 from Chandigarh and 300 from Goa 300. Manipur has 172 and Nagaland has 118 cases till now.

Ladakh has 103 COVID-19 cases, Puducherry has 99 cases, Arunachal Pradesh has 51 cases, Meghalaya 36 cases, Mizoram has 34 cases while Andaman and Nicobar Islands has registered 33 infections so far. Dadar and Nagar Haveli has 20 cases while Sikkim has reported seven cases so far.