NEW DELHI – The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 1,007 and the number of cases climbed to 31,332 in the country on Wednesday, according to the Union health ministry.
The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 22,629, while 7,695 people have recovered, and one patient has migrated, the ministry said.
The total number of cases include 111 foreign nationals.
The sudden spurt in the death toll is worrying for authorities hoping for the disease curve to flatten further.
Between 8 pm last and this morning, deaths have risen by 70, in the highest jump in a few hours since India’s battle against COVID began on January 30–when India reported its first case.
COVID cases also rose drastically on Wednesday with 1,359 additional cases since 8 pm last night. The single-day jump in cases is expected to be higher than what COVID managers were expecting.
Top public health experts monitoring India’s response have been hoping for a single-day rise in cases to either stabilise or reduce.
Clear trends in this direction have not been forthcoming.
The 129 red zone districts are not making rapid progress as expected and the disease burden is disproportionately distributed in the country with 27 districts contributing to the maximum national burden.
The government has identified 27 hotspots for active action and has said its success would depend on performance in these districts.
As per new Health Ministry data 7695 people have recovered — a data that inspired hope among policy planners as India’s cure rate continues to improve reaching 24.55 per cent today.
The comparative mortality rate is 3.21 per cent, a figure that has more or less remained stable through days hovering around 3 per cent.
A total of 70 deaths were reported since Tuesday evening of which 31 fatalities were reported from Maharashtra, 19 from Gujarat, seven from Madhya Pradesh, five from Rajasthan, three from Uttar Pradesh, two from West Bengal and one each from Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.
Of the 1,007 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 400 fatalities, followed by Gujarat at 181, Madhya Pradesh at 120, Delhi at 54, Rajasthan at 51, Uttar Pradesh at 34 and Andhra Pradesh at 31.
The death toll reached 26 in Telengana, 25 in Tamil Nadu, 22 in West Bengal while Karantaka has reported 20 deaths.
Punjab has registered 19 fatalities so far. The disease has claimed eight lives in Jammu and Kashmir, four in Kerala while Jharkhand and Haryana have recorded three COVID-19 deaths each.
Bihar has reported two deaths, while Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Assam have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry’s data.
According to the data updated in the morning, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 9,318 followed by Gujarat at 3,744, Delhi at 3,314, Madhya Pradesh at 2,387, Rajasthan at 2,364, Tamil Nadu at 2,058 and Uttar Pradesh at 2,053.
The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 1,259 in Andhra Pradesh and 1,004 in Telangana.
The number of cases has risen to 725 in West Bengal, 565 in Jammu and Kashmir, 523 in Karnataka, 485 in Kerala, 366 in Bihar and 322 in Punjab.
Haryana has reported 310 coronavirus cases, while Odisha has 118 cases. A total of 103 people have been infected with the virus in Jharkhand and 54 in Uttarakhand.
Chandigarh has reported 56 cases, Himachal Pradesh has 40 cases while Assam and Chhattisgarh have registered 38 infections each so far.
Andaman and Nicobar Islands has 33 COVID-19 cases while Ladakh has reported 22 infections so far.
Meghalaya has reported 12 cases, Puducherry has eight cases while Goa has seven COVID-19 cases.
Manipur and Tripura have two cases each, while Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have reported a case each.
“Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR,” the ministry said on its website. States wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said.
