India reports over 5,000 COVID-19 cases in a day; death toll nears 3,500

THE death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 3,435 and the number of cases to 1,12,359 in India on Thursday (21), registering an increase of 132 deaths and 5,609 cases in the last 24 hours, according to the health ministry.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 63,624, while 45,299 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said.

The increase of 132 deaths reported since Wednesday (20) morning includes 65 from Maharashtra, 30 from Gujarat, nine from Madhya Pradesh, eight from Delhi, four each from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and three each from West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

Of the 3,435 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 1,390 deaths, followed by Gujarat (749), Madhya Pradesh (267), West Bengal (253), Delhi (176), Rajasthan (147), Uttar Pradesh (127),Tamil Nadu (87) and Andhra Pradesh (53).  The death toll reached 41 in Karnataka, 40 in Telangana and 38 in Punjab.

Jammu and Kashmir has reported 18 fatalities due to the disease and Haryana 14, while Bihar has registered 10 deaths and Odisha six.    Kerala and Assam have reported four deaths each so far.

Jharkhand, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh each have recorded three COVID-19 fatalities, while Meghalaya and Uttarakhand have reported one fatality each, according to the data provided by the health ministry.

As per the data, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 39,297, followed by Tamil Nadu (13,191), Gujarat (12,537), Delhi (11,088), Rajasthan (6,015), Madhya Pradesh (5,735) and Uttar Pradesh (5,175).

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 3,103 in West Bengal, 2,602 in Andhra Pradesh and 2,005 in Punjab. It has risen to 1,661 in Telangana, 1,674 in Bihar, 1,462 in Karnataka, 1,390 in Jammu and Kashmir and 1,052 in Odisha. Haryana has reported 993 coronavirus infection cases so far while Kerala has 666 cases. A total of 231 people have been infected with the virus in Jharkhand and 202 in Chandigarh.

Tripura has reported 173 cases, Assam 170, Uttarakhand 122, Chhattisgarh 115 and Himachal Pradesh 110. Goa has registered 50 cases so far. Ladakh has reported 44 COVID-19 cases, while the Andaman and Nicobar Islands has registered 33 infections.  Manipur has 25 cases, Puducherry 18 and Meghalaya 14. Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Dadar and Nagar Haveli have reported a case each.