New Delhi: The nationwide tally of confirmed coronavirus infections neared 20,000 with new cases reported from various states. The death toll also crossed 600, but the Union Health Ministry said the recovery rate has improved to 17.5 per cent. It informed that a record number of 705 patients were cured and discharged Monday itself.
Overall, more than 3,800 persons have been cured and discharged so far. There are more than 15,000 active cases in India, as per figures announced by various state governments.
‘Adventure tourism’
West Bengal reported three more deaths Tuesday. But it was the political standoff between the state and the Centre that garnered maximum attention. The Union Home Ministry alleged that the state government was not cooperating with the central teams visiting there. The teams have been entrusted with the responsibility to assess the COVID-19 situation in West Bengal.
West Bengal’s ruling party the Trinamool Congress said the visit ‘adventure tourism’. It asked why such delegations were not sent to states with much higher numbers of infections and hotspots.
Meanwhile new cases were also reported from various states including Odisha and Kerala.
Mediapersons test positive in line of duty
In the national capital, there are 1,603 active cases of COVID-19, while 47 people have died, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said. He also announced a special testing facility for mediapersons from Wednesday. This came after Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra reported positive test results for several journalists.
In Rajasthan, the central team discussed the coronavirus situation over a video-conference with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. He once more reiterated the state government’s demand from the Centre to deal with the pandemic.
Health Ministry updates
In its evening update, the Health Ministry said the death toll has risen to 603. It added that the number of positive cases has gone up to 18,985 in India.
However, a tally compiled by this agency put the nationwide tally of positive cases at 19,867 with at least 646 deaths. The tally showed that there have been 3,801 recoveries.
The number of confirmed cases in Maharashtra has crossed 5,200, the highest in India with 3,400 in Mumbai itself. Delhi and Gujarat have reported more than 2,000 positive cases each. The number has crossed 1,500 in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.
Global toll
Globally, the coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 1.7 lakh people, including over 42,000 in the United States alone.
Tally compiled by PTI
State/UT Confirmed Discharged Deaths
Andaman & Nicobar 16 11 0
Andhra Pradesh 757 96 22
Arunachal Pradesh 1 0 1
Assam 34 19 1
Bihar 126 42 2
Chandigarh 27 14 0
Chhattisgarh 36 25 0
Delhi 2,156 611 47
Goa 7 7 0
Gujarat 2,178 189 90
Haryana 252 142 2
Himachal Pradesh 40 11 2
Jammu & Kashmir 380 56 5
Jharkhand 45 4 2
Karnataka 418 129 17
Kerala 426 307 2
Ladakh 16 12 0
Madhya Pradesh 1,552 148 80
Maharashtra 5,218 722 251
Manipur 2 2 0
Meghalaya 12 0 1
Mizoram 1 0 0
Nagaland 1 0 0
Odisha 79 29 1
Pondicherry 8 4 1
Punjab 251 49 16
Rajasthan 1,659 97 25
Tamil Nadu 1,596 635 18
Telangana 872 186 23
Tripura 2 1 1
Uttarakhand 46 18 0
Uttar Pradesh 1,294 162 21
West Bengal 359 73 15
Total 19,867 3801 646
PTI
Coronavirus, Health Ministry, Death toll, Maharashtra, ICMR, West Bengal