COVID-19 death toll rises to 242, the number of cases climbs to 7,529: Health Ministry

New Delhi: The death toll due to coronavirus rose to 242 and the number of cases in the country climbed to 7,529 on Saturday, an increase of 768 cases in 24 hours since Friday evening, according to the Union Health Ministry.

While the number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 6,634, as many as 652 people have been cured and discharged, and one had migrated, it said. The total number of cases includes 71 foreign nationals.

Thirty-six deaths have been reported since Friday evening, of which 17 were from Madhya Pradesh, 13 from Maharashtra, two each from Gujarat and Telengana, and one each from Delhi and Assam.

Of the total 242 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 110 fatalities, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 33, Gujarat at 19 and Delhi at 14. Punjab registered 11 deaths, Telengana nine fatalities and Tamil Nadu eight.

Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have reported six deaths each while five people have lost their lives in West Bengal. Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh have reported four fatalities 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.

However, a PTI tally of figures reported by various states as on Saturday showed at least 8,016 cases and 261 deaths.

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 evening, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 1,574, followed by Tamil Nadu at 911 and Delhi at 903.

COVID-19 cases have gone up to 553 in Rajasthan followed by 504 in Telengana and 443 in Madhya Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh has 433, followed by Andhra Pradesh at 381, Kerala at 364 and Gujarat at 308.

The number of novel coronavirus cases have risen to 214 in Karnataka, 207 in Jammu and Kashmir and 177 in Haryana. Punjab has reported 132 COVID-19 positive cases so far and West Bengal 126.

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 Jharkhand has 17 and Ladakh 15, while 11 cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Goa and Puducherry have reported seven COVID-19 infections each, Manipur and Tripura have two cases each while 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.