Coronavirus cases: India's COVID-19 tally tops 12 million with 68,020 fresh positive cases

New Delhi, Mar 29: Union health ministry on Monday said that the coronavirus disease count reached 12,039,644 in India on Monday after 68,020 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours.

According to the health ministry, the country recorded 291 fresh fatalities in the same time period, which took the death toll to 161,843. The health ministry data also showed that 11,355,993 patients have so far been discharged.

The worrying aspect is the active cases, which again crossed the half a million mark after 35,498 new cases were added in the last 24 hours, the health ministry data showed. The active case count now stands at 5,21,808.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday directed officials to impose section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, under which gathering of five or more persons has been banned in night in the state from March 28.

In just the past week, the country has added more than 178,000 active cases to its tally, the highest ever in the country for any week since the start of the outbreak in March last year.

Active cases - those still under treatment - is a crucial metric because it directly reflects the pressure on the health care system in a region as well as provides the number of people who are currently carrying the virus.

The health ministry has said that eight states and union territories have been leading the surge in Covid-19 cases in the country. Among them is worst-hit Maharashtra.

On Sunday, Maharashtra reported 40,414 fresh coronavirus positive cases, the highest rise so far in a single day, taking its tally beyond 27 lakh to 27,13,875, the state health department said.