Coronavirus outbreak: Health ministry claims 14 states report less than 5,000 COVID-19 cases

New Delhi, Oct 01: As many as 14 states in India currently have less than 5,000 active coronavirus cases each, highlighting the need to focus on states with a high case load to cut the transmission cycle of the viral infection.

Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Chandigarh, Puducherry, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Ladakh, Sikkim, Mizoram, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep are the 14 states.

It can be seen that ten states and Union Territories contribute to 78 per cent of the total recovered cases, with Maharashtra leading the tally with over 1,000,000 recoveries, followed by Andhra Pradesh with at least 600,000.

The country on Wednesday witnessed 86,764 new COVID-19 cases in the country, taking the total number of cases to 6,310,241. With 1,179 new deaths reported on Wednesday, the number of people having succumbed to the disease in the country so far since March 12, when the first death due to COVID-19 was reported from the south, is 83,722.

It is reportedly said that 36 per cent of the new fatalities reported are from Maharashtra-on Wednesday, the state reported 430 deaths.

Apart from Maharashtra, other states that have reported a higher number of deaths are Karnataka, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

However, experts in epidemiology said that the possibility that states with a high case load are actually efficient in their COVID-19 data reporting should not be ruled out.