With 9,304 New Cases, India's COVID Tally Reaches 2,16,919, Death Toll Climbs To 6,075

The number of active COVID-19 cases in the country stood at 1,06,737 till 8 am today while the death toll due to the disease climbed to 6,075 with 260 new fatalities.

As per the latest updates from the Union Health Ministry, India recorded a jump in the total coronavirus cases with a spike of 9,304 COVID-19 cases on Thursday, pushing the nationwide tally to 2,16,919. With this surge, India now stands at seventh position among the nations worst hit by the COVID-19 pandemic after the US, Brazil, Russia, the UK, Spain and Italy.

The health ministry official on Thursday said that the number of active COVID-19 cases in the country stood at 1,06,737 till 8 am today while the death toll due to the disease climbed to 6,075 with 260 new fatalities.

Speaking of the recovery rate in India, the ministry said that country's recovery rate stands at  47.99 per cent with total of 1,04,107 patients reporting to have recovered from the disease. The authorities informed that as many as 3,804 patients recovered in the last 24 hours in the country.

A PTI report quoted the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) stating that a total of 42,42,718 samples were tested for coronavirus infection as on 9 am on Thursday, with 1,39,485 of those tested in the last 24 hours. "The apex health research body, ICMR, has further ramped up the testing capacity for detecting the novel coronavirus in infected persons. The number of government laboratories has been increased to 498 and that of private laboratories to 212," the ministry said.

Maharashtra still leads with highest concentration of coronavirus cases, recording as many as 74,860 numbers till date. In terms of deaths as well, the state has recorded the maximum fatalities in past 24 hours. Of the 6,075 deaths in past one day, Maharashtra reported 2,587 deaths, followed by Gujarat - 1,122, Delhi - 606, Madhya Pradesh - 371, West Bengal - 345, Uttar Pradesh - 229, Rajasthan - 209, Tamil Nadu - 208, Telangana - 99 and Andhra Pradesh - 68.

Going by the data, other states such as Karnataka reported 53 death, Punjab - 47, Jammu and Kashmir - 34, Bihar - 25 , Haryana - 23, Kerala - 11, Uttarakhand - 8, Odisha - 7, while Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Jharkhand registered five deaths each. North eastern states Assam recorded four death, while Meghalaya and Ladakh reported one COVID-19 death each. Chhattisgarh has reported two fatalities so far.

Elaborating on the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country, Maharashtra has continued to be the worst-hit state reporting at 74,860 cases, followed by Tamil Nadu - 25,872, Delhi - 23,645, Gujarat - 18,100, Rajasthan - 9,652, Madhya Pradesh- 8,588 and Uttar Pradesh - 8,729.

(With inputs from PTI news agency)