India registers highest single day COVID-19 death toll of 73; total cases cross 31,000

THE death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 1,007 and the number of cases climbed to 31,332 in India on Wednesday (29), according to the health ministry.

The states have recorded over 1,897 cases in last 24 hours, highest number of fresh cases reported in a single day since the pandemic. As many as 73 people succumbed to death on Tuesday (28). Maharashtra has reported 31 deaths followed by Gujarat (19) in a day. As many as 728 new positive COVID-19 cases were reported in Maharashtra.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 22,629, while 7,695 people have recovered, and one patient has migrated, the ministry said. The total number of cases include 111 foreign nationals.

Of the 1,007 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 400 fatalities, followed by Gujarat at 181, Madhya Pradesh at 120, Delhi at 54, Rajasthan at 51, Uttar Pradesh at 34 and Andhra Pradesh at 31.

The death toll reached 26 in Telengana, 25 in Tamil Nadu, 22 in West Bengal while Karantaka has reported 20 deaths. Punjab has registered 19 fatalities so far.

The disease has claimed eight lives in Jammu and Kashmir, four in Kerala while Jharkhand and Haryana have recorded three COVID-19 deaths each. Bihar has reported two deaths, while Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Assam have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry's data.

The highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 9,318 followed by Gujarat at 3,744, Delhi at 3,314, Madhya Pradesh at 2,387, Rajasthan at 2,364, Tamil Nadu at 2,058 and Uttar Pradesh at 2,053.

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 1,259 in Andhra Pradesh and 1,004 in Telangana. The number of cases has risen to 725 in West Bengal, 565 in Jammu and Kashmir, 523 in Karnataka, 485 in Kerala, 366 in Bihar and 322 in Punjab.

Haryana has reported 310 coronavirus cases, while Odisha has 118 cases. A total of 103 people have been infected with the virus in Jharkhand and 54 in Uttarakhand. Chandigarh has reported 56 cases, Himachal Pradesh has 40 cases while Assam and Chhattisgarh have registered 38 infections each so far. Andaman and Nicobar Islands has 33 COVID-19 cases while Ladakh has reported 22 infections so far.

Meanwhile, India's health ministry has warned that Plasma therapy should only be used for research and trial purposes. The therapy could be life-threatening if it was not administered properly, said Lav Agarwal, joint secretary, health ministry.

India is currently under a nationwide lockdown till May 3 to contain the virus spread.