40 deaths in a day: India suffers its biggest single-day Covid-19 toll yet

With 40 deaths and 1,035 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, India on Saturday witnessed a sharpest ever increase in coronavirus cases, taking the tally of the infected people in the country to 7,447, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

According to the official data, among 7447 Covid-19 positive cases, 6,565 are active cases and 643 are cured, discharged and migrated and 239 patients who have succumbed to the virus.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases in the country which stands at 1,574, including 188 cured and discharged and 110 deaths, followed by Tamil Nadu with 911 corona positive cases. On the other hand, the national capital has reported 903 cases, which include 25 recovered cases and 13 deaths. While 553 have detected positive for the infection in Rajasthan, Telangana has 473 corona cases and Chhattisgarh and Chandigarh have reported 18 cases each.

Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, that borders the national capital, has 431 and 177 cases, respectively.

Kerala, which reported India's first coronavirus case, has 364 confirmed cases. The newly carved union territories -- Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir--- have 15 and 207 cases, respectively.The least number of Covid-19 cases have reported from the northeast region of the country. While Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and Tripura have only 1 corona positive case,

Assam has 29 people infected with the virus, which is the highest in the region.

Coronavirus lockdown

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with chief ministers of all states on Saturday, where a decision on whether there is a need to extend of the lockdown may be taken. The 21-day nationwide lockdown that PM Modi declared in late March contain the spread of coronavirus pandemic is officially set to end on April 14.