COVID-19: Cases in India rise to 14,378, death toll at 480

New Delhi: With 991 new cases of the coronavirus disease in the last 24 hours, India’s tally is at 14,378 and the Covid-19 related death has risen to 480, the Union health ministry said on Saturday morning.

Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are the states with the highest number of positve cases according to the health ministry data at 8am.

Out of the 14,378 COVID-19 cases in the country, 1992 people have also been cured, discharged or migrated as the country is in the second phase of lockdown.

The Union health ministry said the doubling rate in India has gone from 3 to 6.2 days due to the nationwide lockdown of 21 days and the subsequent extension has helped in containing the spread infection.

“The doubling rate in 19 states and Union territories are even lower than average doubling rate,” Lav Aggarwal, joint secretary with the health ministry, said during the daily news briefing on Friday.

“Kerala, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Ladakh, Puducherry, Delhi, Bihar, Odisha, TN, Andhra Pradesh, UP, Punjab, Assam, Tripura all have low doubling rates of coronavirus cases,” Aggarwal added.

He also said that the ratio between Covid-19 patients who have recovered and those who have died stands at 80:20 in the country, which is higher than that of several other countries suffering due to the health crisis.

The Centre has declared 170 Covid-19 hotspots—123 hotspot districts with large outbreaks and 47 hotspot districts with clusters. Besides, it has identified 207 non-hotspot districts with clusters.

The health ministry said in its updated containment plan for large outbreaks that India is preparing for a ‘scenario-based approach’ in tackling the coronavirus disease.