Coronavirus Outbreak: COVID-19 tally in India registers highest spike yet, crosses 67,000-mark; death toll tops 2,200

The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection in India crossed the 67,000-mark on Monday, while the death toll has topped the 2,200-mark as well. At 9 AM on this day, the COVID-19 tally in the country has reached 67,152 cases, which includes 44,029 active cases; 20,917 cured, discharged, or migrated patients, and 2,206 deaths.

According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, as many as 4,213 new COVID-19 cases and 97 deaths were reported in the country in the last 24 hours, marking a significant spike. In fact, this is the highest spike in India's COVID-19 tally so far. The last highest jump was of a spike of about 3,900 cases on May 5.

Yesterday, the COVID-19 tally in India was nearing the 63,000-mark, while the death toll had already just topped the 2,000-mark. However, the recovery rate this morning stands at 31.14%, which is a significant development over last Sunday's 26.59%, the Health Ministry informed.

In India, the state of Maharashtra has emerged as the epicenter of the coronavirus spread where the number of cases witnessed a massive spike recently. According to the Health Ministry, Maharashtra has the highest number of cases with around 22,171 positive cases of infection and 832 deaths.

Notably, Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, has become the hotbed of the coronavirus spread in the state where the number of cases has crossed the 13,700-mark and the death toll is over 500. At 9 AM on this day, the COVID-19 tally in Mumbai showed 13,739 cases and 508 deaths.

One of the real challenges in Mumbai is controlling the disease contamination in Asia's biggest slum -- Dharavi, which is an extremely densely-populated region.

Maharashtra is followed by Gujarat with 8,195 cases. Tamil Nadu is third on the list with 7,204 cases; the state recently overtook Delhi as it registered a high number of COVID-19 cases.

After Tamil Nadu comes Delhi, where the COVID-19 figure stands at 6,923 with 2,069 patients recovered and 73 fatalities. Rajasthan has reported 3,814 cases of which 2,241 have recovered and 108 patients are dead.

Madhya Pradesh has reported 3,614 positive cases so far of which 1,676 patients have recovered and 215 patients have lost their lives due to the virus. In Uttar Pradesh, as many as 3,467 people have confirmed COVID-19, of which 1,653 recovered and 79 people succumbed to it.

In Kerala, which reported the country's first COVID-19 case, 513 people have been detected positive for coronavirus so far.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to conduct a meeting today via video conference with the Chief Ministers of all the states to discuss the next stage in the exit from the nationwide lockdown. He is also expected to take feedback from the states on further easing of restrictions on activities while gradually restarting economic activities in a phased manner.

The Indian Railways is also planning to gradually resume passenger train services from May 12, an official statement from the Ministry of Railways said. However, the ministry has made it clear that ticket booking counters at the railway stations shall remain closed and no counter tickets including platform tickets shall be issued.