Coronavirus cases: India reports 17,407 new COVID-19 cases, records below 100 deaths in last 24 hours

New Delhi, Mar 04: Union health ministry on Thursday said that India witnessed a hike in daily coronavirus cases as it reported 17,407 new cases in the last 24 hours. The coronavirus caseload in the country now stands at 1,156,923. On Wednesday, 14,989 fresh infections were reported.

According to the health ministry, the number of active cases in the country which was around 1.50 lakh in the initial week of February has also increased to over 1.73 lakh.

On Wednesday, the health ministry had said six states are contributing most to the active coronavirus cases in the country. Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Karnataka have been witnessing a continued surge in coronavirus cases.

The government has asked the states and union territories reporting a hike in daily COVID-19 cases to maintain a rigorous vigil to contain the spread of the fatal virus. High-level teams have also been rushed to Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Jammu and Kashmir to help the states in combating the coronavirus rage.

With less than 100 deaths reported on Thursday, the death toll of the country now stands at 157,435 with a fatality rate of 1.41 per cent. Meanwhile, with 14,031 recoveries, the recovery rate stood at 97.06 per cent.

As per the data of the health ministry, more than eight lakh beneficiaries above the age of 60 years and over 1.04 lakh beneficiaries aged 45 years and above with co-morbidities have been vaccinated so far.