With 1,490 new cases, India's Covid-19 tally at 24,942

The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 779 and the number of cases climbed to 24,942 in the country on Saturday, registering an increase of 56 deaths and 1,490 cases since Friday evening, according to the Union health ministry.

IMAGE: A man hold a packed lunch given to him while walking on a road, as India remains under an unprecedented lockdown over the highly contagious coronavirus in New Delhi. Photograph: Yawar Nazir/Getty Images

The 56 deaths were the maximum reported in the country in a span of 24 hours, the ministry said.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 18,953, while 5,209 people have been cured and discharged, and one patient has migrated, it added.

"So far, around 20.88 per cent people have recovered in the country," the ministry said.

The total number of cases includes 111 foreign nationals.

IMAGE: A woman in a quarantine centre speaks to her family member over the phone in Jabalpur. Photograph: PTI Photo

Of the 56 deaths reported since Friday evening, 18 were in Maharashtra, 15 in Gujarat, nine in Madhya Pradesh, three each in Delhi and West Bengal, two each in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh and one each in Punjab and Kerala.

Of the total 779 COVID-19 deaths, Maharashtra accounts for the highest number of 301 fatalities, followed by Gujarat (127), Madhya Pradesh (92), Delhi (53), Andhra Pradesh (31) and
Rajasthan (27).

IMAGE: Doctors conduct a mock drill inside a train coach converted into isolation ward for COVID 19 patients at a railway station in Prayagraj. Photograph: PTI Photo

The death toll reached 26 in Uttar Pradesh as well as in Telangana, 22 in Tamil Nadu, while Karnataka and West Bengal have reported 18 deaths each, the ministry said.

Punjab has registered 17 fatalities so far, Jammu and Kashmir five, Kerala four, while Jharkhand and Haryana have recorded three COVID-19 deaths each.

Bihar has reported two coronavirus deaths, while Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Assam have reported a fatality each, according to the ministry data.

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

IMAGE: Medics wearing protective suits prepare to escort COVID-19 patients from Telierganj area to a hospital in UP. Photograph: PTI Photo

According to the health ministry data updated in the evening, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country is from Maharashtra at 6,817, followed by Gujarat (2,815), Delhi
(2,514), Rajasthan (2,034), Madhya Pradesh (1,952) and Uttar Pradesh (1,778).

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 1,755 in Tamil Nadu, 1,061 in Andhra Pradesh and 984 in Telangana.

The number of cases has risen to 571 in West Bengal, 489 in Karnataka, 454 in Jammu and Kashmir, 451 in Kerala, 298 in Punjab and 272 in Haryana.

Bihar has reported 228 coronavirus cases, while Odisha has 94. Fifty-nine people have been infected with the virus in Jharkhand and 48 in Uttarakhand.

Himachal Pradesh has 40 cases, while Chhattisgarh and Assam have registered 36 infections each.

IMAGE: Vegetable vendors maintain social distancing at a market at Gumla district of Jharkhand. Photograph: PTI Photo

Chandigarh has 28 cases, while there are 27 COVID-19 patients in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Twenty coronavirus cases have been reported from Ladakh, 12 from Meghalaya, while Goa and Puducherry have registered seven COVID-19 cases each.

Manipur and Tripura have two coronavirus patients each, while Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have reported a case each.

"Forty-nine cases are being assigned to states for contact tracing. Our figures are being reconciled with that of the the ICMR," the ministry said on its website.

State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it added.