COVID-19: Death toll in India now 77; global casualty at 60,000

In India, testing capacity has been ramped up significantly

INDIA-HEALTH-VIRUS Representational image | AFP

The number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases in the country climbed to 3,374 on Sunday while the death toll rose to 77, according to Union health ministry data. While the number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 3,030, as many as 266 people were either cured of the disease and discharged, and one had migrated, it said. In its updated data around 9am, the health ministry reported two new fatalities, one each from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. According to the ministry, Maharashtra has reported the most coronavirus deaths at 24, followed by Gujarat 10, Telengana seven, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi six each and Punjab five.

Karnataka has reported four deaths, while West Bengal and Tamil Nadu each have recorded three fatalities. Two deaths each have been reported from Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, and Kerala. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh each have reported one fatality, according to the data. The highest number of confirmed cases was reported from Maharashtra at 490, followed by Tamil Nadu at 485 and Delhi 445. Kerala has 306 positive cases so far, while the number of cases has gone up to 269 in Telangana and 227 in Uttar Pradesh. There are 200 cases in Rajasthan and 161 cases in Andhra Pradesh. COVID-19 cases have risen to 144 in Karnataka, followed by 105 in Gujarat and 104 in Madhya Pradesh.

Jammu and Kashmir has 92 cases so far and West Bengal has 69. Punjab has reported 57 infections so far, followed by Haryana at 49. Thirty people are afflicted with COVID-19 in Bihar, while Assam has 24 cases. Uttarakhand has 22 cases, followed by Odisha at 20 cases, Chandigarh at 18 infections, and Ladakh with 14. Ten cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands while Chhattisgarh has nine infections. Goa has reported seven COVID-19 cases, followed by Himachal Pradesh with six and Puducherry with five cases. Jharkhand and Manipur have reported two cases each, while Mizoram and Arunachal Pradeh have reported one infection each. "State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation," the Union health ministry said on its website.

The coronavirus pandemic has killed over 60,000 people worldwide, nearly three quarters of them in Europe, since it emerged in China in December, according to a tally compiled by AFP at 1330 GMT Saturday from official sources. A total of 60,457 deaths have been recorded, including 44,132 in Europe, the continent worst hit by the virus. The official tallies probably reflect only a fraction of the actual number of cases.

With 14,681 deaths, Italy is the country with the highest death toll, followed by Spain (11,744), the United States (7,159), France (6,507) and Britain (4,313). Since COVID-19 first emerged, 1,130,204 cases have been declared officially in the world, with more than half of them in Europe (610,846). There have been 290,219 in the United States and Canada (7,325 deaths between them) and 115,777 cases in Asia (4,124 deaths).