COVID-19: Death toll rises to 239; cases climb to 7,447

New Delhi: The death toll due to the novel coronavirus rose to 239 and the number of cases to 7,447 in the country on Saturday, according to the Union Health Ministry.

While the number of active COVID-19 cases is 6,565, as many as 642 people were cured and discharged and one had migrated, it said.

As many as 33 new deaths have been reported since Friday evening, the ministry said.

Seventeen deaths were reported from Madhya Pradesh, 13 from Maharashtra, two from Gujarat and one from Assam, it said.

Maharashtra has reported the most coronavirus deaths at 110, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 33, Gujarat at 19 and Delhi at 13.

Punjab registered 11 deaths while Tamil Nadu has reported eight fatalities and Telengana seven.

Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have reported six deaths each while West Bengal has registered five deaths each.

Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh have reported four deaths each while Haryana and Rajasthan have recorded three deaths each.

Two deaths have been reported from Kerala. Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Assam reported one fatality each, according to the health ministry data.

The 7,447 figure includes 71 foreign nationals. The death toll on Friday evening was 206.

There has been a lag in the Union Health Ministry figures, compared to the number of cases announced by different states, which officials attribute to procedural delays in assigning the cases to individual states.

According to the ministry’s data updated in the morning, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 1574, followed by Tamil Nadu at 911 and Delhi at 903.

The cases have gone up to 553 in Rajasthan, followed by 473 in Telengana and 435 in Madhya Pradesh and 431 in Uttar Pradesh.

Kerala has reported 364 cases and Andhra Pradesh 363. Gujarat has 308 positive patients so far. Novel coronavirus cases have risen to 207 in Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir each and 177 in Haryana. Punjab has 132 positive patients so far while West Bengal has 116 cases. Bihar has reported 60 cases while Odisha has 48 coronavirus cases.

Thirty- five people were infected with the virus in Uttarakhand while Assam has 29 patients, followed by Himachal Pradesh with 28 cases. Chandigarh and Chhattisgarh have 18 cases each while Ladakh has 15. Jharkhand has 14 positive patients so far while 11 cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Goa has reported seven COVID-19 infections, followed by Puducherry at five cases. Manipur has two while Tripura, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have reported one case each.

“State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation,” the ministry said on its website.