Coronavirus death toll touches 166 in India; cases soar to 5,734

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus rose to 166 and the number of cases to 5,734 in the country on Thursday, according to the Union Health Ministry. While the number of active COVID-19 cases is 5,095, as many as 472 people were cured and discharged and one had migrated, it said.

As many as 17 new deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours across the country, the ministry said. Eight deaths were reported from Maharashtra, three from Gujarat, two from Jammu and Kashmir and one from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, it said.

Maharashtra has reported the most coronavirus deaths at 72, followed by Gujarat at 16, Madhya Pradesh at 13 and Delhi at 9.Punjab and Tamil Nadu have reported eight fatalities each while Telengana has reported seven deaths. West Bengal and Karnataka have registered five deaths each. Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh have reported four deaths each while Haryana and Rajasthan have recorded three deaths each.

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Two deaths have been reported from Kerala. Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha reported one fatality each, according to the health ministry data. The death toll on Wednesday evening was 149. However, a PTI tally of figures reported by various states as on Wednesday late evening showed at least 181 deaths.

There has been a lag in the Union Health Ministry figures, compared to the number of deaths announced by different states, which officials attribute to procedural delays in assigning the cases to individual states. According to the ministry's data updated at 8 am, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 1,135, followed by Tamil Nadu at 738 and Delhi at 669 cases.

The cases have risen to 427 in Telangana, while Rajasthan has 381 cases. Uttar Pradesh has 361, while Andhra Pradesh reported 348 coronavirus cases. Kerala has reported 345 COVID-19 cases so far. Novel coronavirus cases have risen to 229 in Madhya Pradesh, 181 in Karnataka and 179 in Gujarat.

Jammu and Kashmir has 158 cases, Haryana 147, West Bengal 103 and Punjab 101. Odisha has reported 42 coronavirus cases. Thirty-eight people were infected with the virus in Bihar, while Uttarakhand has 33 patients and Assam 28. Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh have18 cases each, while Ladakh has 14 positive patients so far.

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Eleven cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, while 10 were reported from Chhattisgarh. Goa has reported seven COVID-19 cases, followed by Puducherry at five. Jharkhand has reported four cases, while Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have reported one case each. "State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation," the ministry said on its website. 

PM Modi chairs all-party meet 

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired a meeting with the leaders of the Opposition parties through a video conference to discuss the current situation in the country. It was the very first interaction of PM Modi with the Opposition all together after the imposition of the 21-day lockdown due to Coronavirus. Floor leaders of all those parties which have a combined strength of more than five MPs in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were a part of the discussion. 

(With PTI inputs)