COVID-19 death toll rises to 324, number of cases climbs to 9,352: Health Ministry

With a record 51 fatalities within 24 hours, the death toll due to coronavirus jumped to 324 and the number of cases in the country climbed to 9,352 on Monday, an increase of 905 since Sunday evening, according to the Union Health Ministry.

While the number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 8,048, as many as 979 people have been cured and discharged, and one had migrated, it said. The total number of cases include 72 foreign nationals.

Fifty-one deaths have been reported since Sunday evening, of which 22 were from Maharashtra, seven each from Madhya Pradesh and Telengana, five from Delhi, four from Gujarat, two from West Bengal and one each from Kerela, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand.

Of the total 324 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 149 fatalities, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 43, Gujarat at 26, Delhi at 24 and Telengana at 16. Punjab and Tamil Nadu have registered 11 deaths each while West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh have reported seven deaths each.

Karnataka have reported six deaths each while five people have lost their lives in Uttar Pradesh. Jammu and Kashmir has reported four fatalities, while Kerala, Haryana and Rajasthan have recorded three deaths each. Jharkhand has registered two deaths.

Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Assam reported one fatality each, according to the health ministry data.

However, a PTI tally of figures reported by various states as on Monday evening showed at least 9,594 cases and 335 deaths.

There has been a lag in the Union Health Ministry figures, compared to the number of cases announced by different states, which officials attribute to procedural delays in assigning the cases to individual states.

According to the ministry's data updated in the evening, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 1,985 followed by Delhi at 1,154 and Tamil Nadu at 1,075.

COVID-19 cases have gone up to 812 in Rajasthan followed by 604 in Madhya Pradesh, 562 in Telengana and 539 in Gujarat. Uttar Pradesh has 483 cases, followed by Andhra Pradesh at 432, Kerala at 376 and Karnataka at 247.

The number of novel coronavirus cases has risen to 245 in Jammu and Kashmir and 185 in Haryana. Punjab has reported 167 cases while West Bengal has reported 152 infections so far.

Bihar has reported 64 cases, while Odisha has 54 coronavirus cases. Thirty-five people were infected with the virus in Uttarakhand, while Himachal Pradesh has 32 cases followed by Assam and Chhattisgarh with 31 cases each.

Chandigarh reported 21 cases, Jharkhand 19 and Ladakh 15, while 11 cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Goa and Puducherry have reported seven COVID-19 infections each, Manipur and Tripura have two cases each, while Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh have reported a case each.

"State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation," the ministry said on its website.