336 new COVID-19 cases in past 24 hours, India tally climbs to 2,301

With as many as 336 fresh cases of COVID-19 and 12 deaths reported in the last 24 hours the total number of novel coronavirus positive cases has gone up to 2301 in the country, the Centre said on Friday.

Out of 12 deaths reported since Thursday some are related to Tablighi Jamaat congregation, Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, told media here in the daily media briefing.

With this the number of deaths in the country linked to COVID-19 is now at 56.

"336 new cases of COVID-19 and 12 deaths have been reported since Thursday, thus taking the total number of confirmed cases to 2,301 and the number of deaths to 56 in the country," Aggarwal said.

In the last two days around 647 confirmed cases related to Tablighi Jamaat evacuees from Delhi's Nizamuddin area were found in 14 states - Andaman & Nicobar, Assam, Delhi, Himachal, Haryana, J & K, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, the health secretary said.

157 patients have recovered from COVID-19 so far.

He also said that so far about 66,000 tests have been done with, 8,000 tests being conducted in the last 24 hours, the highest in a single day.

Aggarwal further said that Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has appealed to patients and their families not to create any obstacle in the path of doctors while they discharge their duties.

Expressing concerns over misbehaviour with doctors and medical staff, he said strict action will be taken in cases of attack on doctors and paramedical staff.