India's COVID-19 death toll nears 700; total cases 21,393

INDIA's health ministry on Thursday (23) said that the country's total COVID-19 cases have jumped to 21,393 with 681 deaths.

A total of 29 deaths were reported since Wednesday evening, of which 18 fatalities were reported from Maharashtra, eight from Gujarat, two from Rajasthan and one from Delhi, the ministry said.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 16,454, while 4,257 people have been cured and discharged, one patient has migrated, it said.

The total number of cases includes 77 foreign nationals.

Maharashtra tops the death tally with 269 fatalities, followed by Gujarat  (103), Madhya Pradesh (80), Delhi (48), Rajasthan (27), Andhra Pradesh (24) and Telengana (23).

The death toll reached 21 in Uttar Pradesh, 18 in Tamil Nadu and 17 in Karantaka. Punjab has registered 16 deaths, while West Bengal has reported 15 fatalities due to COVID-19 so far.

The disease has claimed five lives in Jammu and Kashmir. Kerala, Jharkhand and Haryana have recorded three deaths each.

Bihar has reported two deaths, while Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Assam have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry data.

The highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra (5,652), followed by Gujarat (2,407), Delhi (2,248), Rajasthan (1,890), Tamil Nadu (1,629) and Madhya Pradesh (1,592).

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 1,449 in Uttar Pradesh, 945 in Telangana and 813 in Andhra Pradesh. The number of cases has risen to 456 in West Bengal, 438 in Kerala, 427 in Karnataka, 407 in Jammu and Kashmir, 262 in Haryana and 251 in Punjab.

Bihar has reported 143 coronavirus cases, while Odisha has 83 such cases. Forty-nine people have been infected with the virus in Jharkhand, while Uttarakhand has 46 cases.

Himachal Pradesh has 40 cases and Chhattisgarh 36. Assam has registered 35 infections so far. Chandigarh has 27 COVID-19 cases, while 18 cases have been reported from Ladakh and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands each, the ministry said.