COVID-19 death toll in India rises to 43, positive cases tally crosses 1300-mark

New Delhi, Mar 31: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases crossed 1,300 in India on Tuesday, registering the highest single-day increase of 227 cases, while the death toll rose to 43.

Kerala reported its second COVID-19 death on Tuesday after a 68-year-old died in Thiruvananthapuram. The condition of the man was "extremely critical", a press release from the state-run Thiruvananthapuram Medical College and Hospital said. The patient was on ventilator support for the past five days and was suffering from high blood pressure. He was also on dialysis, it said. Another man died at a hospital in West Bengal's Howrah district, taking the state's death toll to three.

Delhi-based headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat in Nizamuddin West which hosted a congregation this month and was attended by followers from abroad and India. Nine Indians who attended - six in Telengana and one each in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and J&K - have died of the disease. At least one foreign national, a Filipino, has died and 19 foreigners, followers have tested positive.

The country is in the middle of a 21-days lockdown in order to curb the spread of the deadly virus. According to government numbers, until now, 1,251 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the country.

It said the number of active cases was 1,117, and 101 people were either cured or discharged and one had migrated, the ministry stated. The 1,251 cases include 49 foreigners. In an updated data at 9.30 PM, it said three fresh deaths were reported on Monday. A total of 115 people have recovered so far.

While one death each was reported from Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, the details of the third was not available on the chart. So far, Maharashtra has reported the most deaths (8), followed by Gujarat (6), Karnataka (3) Madhya Pradesh (3), Delhi (2) and Jammu and Kashmir (2). Kerala, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, West Bengal, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh have reported a death each.

The highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases was reported from Kerala with 202 infections, followed by Maharashtra at 198. The number of cases in Delhi has gone up to 87. The cases in Karnataka have gone up to 83 till now, it has increased to 82 in Uttar Pradesh.

The number of cases has risen to 71 in Telangana, 69 in Gujarat, 67 in Tamil Nadu while the number of cases in Rajasthan has climbed to 59. It has risen to 48 in Jammu and Kashmir. Madhya Pradesh has 47 positive patients. Punjab has reported 38 cases, while 36 COVID-19 cases have been detected in Haryana.

There are 23 cases of COVID-19 in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal (22), Bihar (15) and Ladakh (13).

Nine cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Chandigarh has eight cases, while Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand have reported seven cases. Goa has reported five coronavirus cases, while Himachal Pradesh and Odisha have reported three cases each. Puducherry, Mizoram and Manipur have reported a case each.

"Remaining 46 cases are being assigned to states to initiate contact tracing," the ministry stated.