COVID-19 cases in India cross 62,000-mark, death toll mounts to 2,093. Check state-wise list

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases crossed 62,600 on Saturday and the death toll topped the 2,000-mark after hundreds more tested positive for the deadly virus infection, nationwide. Meanwhile, the number of active cases in India is 41,350 whereas 19,163 coronavirus patients have been discharged so far after their successful recovery.

In its daily update, the Union Health Ministry said the COVID-19 death toll has risen to 1,981 and the number of cases has climbed to 59,662, registering an increase of 95 deaths and 3,320 cases in 24 hours till Saturday morning.

The fresh cases included at least two foreign returnees who had reached Kerala on May 7 in two separate first-day flights -- one from Dubai and another from Abu Dhabi -- under a massive ongoing evacuation plan of the central government to bring back stranded Indians abroad.

On Saturday, fresh cases were also reported from Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Punjab, Bihar and Assam, among other places.

While large numbers of cases continued to get detected in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Delhi, among other places, experts have warned the numbers may rise further in the coming days due to the ongoing movement of lakhs of migrant workers being facilitated by trains and buses to help them reach their native places and because of a large number of Indians stranded abroad, along with expatriates, being brought back in special flights.

In Maharashtra, 1,165 new cases were reported to take the state tally to 20,228, while the death toll rose to 779 after 48 more patients succumbed to COVID-19. Mumbai alone reported 27 more deaths, taking its count of fatalities to 489, while the count of confirmed cases in the country's financial capital has risen to 12,864.

Tamil Nadu reported four more deaths during the day, taking its death toll to 44, while 526 more people tested positive for the virus to take its tally to over 6,500.

Gujarat reported 394 new cases, taking its tally to 7,797, while 23 more patients died to take the death toll to 472. Ahmedabad alone reported 280 new cases and 20 more deaths, taking its own case count to 5,540 and fatalities to 363.

In the national capital also, 224 new COVID-19 cases were recorded to take its tally to 6,542.

The country's largest paramilitary force CRPF also reported 62 fresh coronavirus infections on Saturday from a single Delhi-based unit, officials said.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the testing capacity for COVID-19 has been ramped up to around 95,000 tests per day and a total of over 15 lakh tests have been conducted so far across hundreds of government and private labs.

The Union Health Ministry has also revised its policy for discharge of COVID-19 patients under which only those developing severe illness or having compromised immunity will have to test negative through RT-PCR test before being discharged by a hospital.

Coronavirus in India: State-wise tally

(With inputs from PTI)

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