The number of Covid-19 cases in India rose to 37,776 yesterday, officials said.
The death toll also rose to 1,223, Health Ministry official Lav Agarwal said.
Of the cases, 26, 535 are active while 10,017 people have recovered.
Maharashtra remained the worst-hit state with the number of cases rising to 11,506, followed by Gujarat (4,721) and Delhi (3,738), he said.
Maharashtra has also recorded 521 deaths, the highest among all states, according to the ministry.
Thirty-six patients died of Covid-19 yesterday, the highest single-day figure so far in the state.
Of this 27 were recorded in Mumbai, taking the city’s death toll to 322.
In a major scare, at least three policemen stationed outside Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s residence Matoshri in Bandra tested positive.
They have been quarantined and their contacts tracing on, official sources said.
Senior cabinet minister Jitendra Awhad is already under treatment for Covid-19 for the past week.
Alarm bells went off in Nanded, which was until now in the Orange Zone, after 26 people tested positive, Public Worsk Department Minister Ashok Chavan said yesterday.
“The spread is suspected through some persons who had arrived in buses from Punjab, who lived in the area gurdwara. Consequently, the entire gurdwara premises has been quarantined, but there’s no cause for worry and the situation is under control,” Chavan said.Meanwhile Pune and Amravati recorded three new deaths and Palghar and Aurangabad one each.
Among the 36 deaths, 28 were men and eight women. More than 70% were suffering from serious ailments such as diabetes, hypertension, heart problems and asthma.
On the positive side, 121 cured patients returned home yesterday, taking the total of such cases to 2,000.
Taking a significant step, Maharashtra became the first state in the country to provide free and cashless Covid-19 treatment to its entire population under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY) insurance scheme, Health Minister Rajesh Tope said.
Delhi witnessed a record 384 new coronavirus cases, taking the total number of cases in the national capital to 4,122.
With three more deaths being reported in the last 24 hours, the toll mounted to 64. Among those who died, 55 had other serious diseases.
At least 89 more patients recovered in the last 24 hours, according to officials.
A hospital staff conducts tests on ‘Mitra’, a robot equipped with a thermal camera installed to register and conduct preliminary screening of patients before directing them to respective medical specialists to prevent the spread of coronavirus, at Fortis Hospital in Bengaluru yesterday.
