131 test positive for COVID-19 in 12-hour, total cases climb to 1975 in India

The total number of coronavirus cases in India climbed to 1965 on Thursday after 131 people confirmed positive in the past 12 hours, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

At present, there are 1764 COVID-19 active cases in the country and 50 people have died due to the lethal infection.

"Increase of 131 COVID-19 cases in the last 12 hours. A total number of coronavirus positive cases rise to 1965 in India (including 1764 active cases, 151 cured/discharged/migrated people and 50 deaths," said the Health Department.

The highest number of COVID-19 positive cases were reported from Maharashtra at 335, including 13 deaths, followed by Kerala (265 and 2 deaths), Tamil Nadu (234 and 1 death).

There are 152 coronavirus positive cases in the national capital, including 6 cured and discharged and 2 deaths.

The states which have crossed 100-mark for COVID-19 positive cases also include, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka with 108, 113 and 110 cases, respectively.

While 9 people were detected positive for coronavirus in Chandigarh, 62 cases were confirmed from Jammu and Kashmir and 13 from Ladakh.

In Northeast, one COVID-19 case each has been confirmed from Mizoram, Manipur, and Assam.

Earlier in the day, the Union Ministry for Home Affairs has written to all states and union territories (UTs), directing them to take effective measures to combat fake news about coronavirus.Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla told the Supreme Court that it has been communicated to states and UTs that the Central government is creating a web-portal for people to verify facts and unverified news promptly. They have been requested to create a similar mechanism at their level for issues in this regard.