India now 5th worst-hit nation by COVID-19, surpasses Spain

New Delhi: India raced past Spain on Saturday to become the fifth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic after a record spike in cases for four consecutive days pushed total infections to over 2,45,670, according to the Johns Hopkins University data.

In less than 24 hours, India surpassed Italy and then Spain to reach the grim milestone.

Now, only the US, Brazil, Russia, and the UK are ahead of it.

Spain so far has recorded 2,41,310 cases, according to the university data.

According to the Union Health Ministry, India registered a record single-day spike of 9,887 cases and 294 deaths by Saturday 8 am, pushing the tally to 2,36,657 and the death toll to 6,642. The country registered over 9,000 cases for the third day in a row.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 1,15,942.

A total of 1,14,073 people have recovered with 4,611 COVID-19 patients having been cured in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry said.

“Thus, around 48.20 percent of patients have recovered so far,” a senior ministry official said.

The total confirmed cases included foreigners.

The health ministry said cumulatively 45,24,317 samples have been tested so far with 1,37,938 samples tested in the last 24 hours.

Of the total 6,642 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 2,849 deaths, followed by Gujarat (1,190), Delhi (708), Madhya Pradesh (384), West Bengal (366), Uttar Pradesh (257), Tamil Nadu (232), Rajasthan (218), Telangana (113), Andhra Pradesh (73), Karnataka (57) and Punjab (48).

Jammu and Kashmir have reported 36 fatalities, Bihar 29, Haryana 24, Kerala 14, Uttarakhand 11, Odisha 8, and Jharkhand 7. Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh have registered 5 COVID-19 deaths each, Assam 4, Chhattisgarh 2, Meghalaya, and Ladakh 1 each.

According to the ministry, more than 70 percent of the deaths are due to comorbidities.

According to the ministry data updated Saturday morning, the highest number of confirmed cases are from Maharashtra at 80,229, followed by Tamil Nadu at 28,694, Delhi at 26,334, Gujarat at 19,094, Rajasthan at 10,084, Uttar Pradesh at 9,733 and Madhya Pradesh at 8,996.

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 7,303 in West Bengal, 4,835 in Karnataka, 4,596 in Bihar, and 4,303 in Andhra Pradesh.

It has risen to 3,597 in Haryana, 3,324 in Jammu and Kashmir, 3,290 in Telangana, and 2,608 in Odisha.

Punjab has reported 2,461 coronavirus infections so far, while Assam has 2,153 cases. A total of 1,699 people have been infected with the virus in Kerala and 1,215 in Uttarakhand.

Jharkhand has registered 881 cases, Chhattisgarh has 879, Tripura has 692, Himachal Pradesh has 393, Chandigarh has 304 cases, Goa has 196, Manipur has 132 and Puducherry has 99 cases.

Ladakh has 97 COVID-19 cases, Nagaland has 94, Arunachal Pradesh has 45, while Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Meghalaya have registered 33 infections each.

Mizoram has reported 22 cases and Dadar and Nagar Haveli have 14 cases, while Sikkim has reported three cases till now.

“8,192 cases are being reassigned to states,” the ministry said on its website adding “our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR.”

“State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation,” it said.