New Delhi:  The death toll due to coronavirus rose to 206 and the number of cases in the country climbed to 6,761 on Friday, a record spike of 896 cases and 37 deaths in 24 hours since Thursday evening, according to the Union Health Ministry.

While the number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 6,039, as many as 515 people have been cured and discharged, and one had migrated, it said. The total number of cases include 71 foreign nationals.

Thirty-seven deaths have been reported since Thursday evening, of which 25 were from Maharashtra, four from Delhi, three from Punjab, two from Andhra Pradesh, and one each from Gujarat, Karnataka and Jharkhand.

Of the total 206 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 97 fatalities, followed by Gujarat at 17, Madhya Pradesh at 16 and Delhi at 13. Punjab registered 11 deaths while Tamil Nadu has reported eight fatalities and Telengana seven.

Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have reported six deaths each while five people have lost their lives in West Bengal. Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh have reported four fatalities each while Haryana and Rajasthan have recorded three deaths each.

Two deaths have been reported from Kerala. Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Jharkhand reported one fatality each, according to the health ministry data.

However, a PTI tally of figures reported by various states as on Friday showed at least 7,049 cases and 236 deaths.

There has been a lag in the Union Health Ministry figures, compared to the number of cases announced by different states, which officials attribute to procedural delays in assigning the cases to individual states.

According to the ministry’s data updated in the evening, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 1,364, followed by Delhi at 898 and Tamil Nadu at 834.

COVID-19 cases have gone up to 473 in Telengana and 463 in Rajasthan. Uttar Pradesh has 431 cases so far followed by Andhra Pradesh at 363 and Kerala at 357.

The number of the novel coronavirus infection cases has risen to 259 in Madhya Pradesh, 241 in Gujarat, 197 in Karnataka, 184 in Jammu and Kashmir and 169 in Haryana. Punjab has 132 COVID-19 patients so far while West Bengal has 116 cases.

Bihar has reported 60 cases while Odisha has 44 coronavirus cases. Thirty-five people were infected with the virus in Uttarakhand while Assam has 29 patients followed by Himachal Pradesh with 28 cases. Chandigarh has 18 cases while Ladakh has 15. Jharkhand has 13 coronavirus positive patients so far.

Eleven cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands while 10 were reported from Chhattisgarh. Goa has reported seven COVID-19 infections, followed by Puducherry at five, Manipur at two while Tripura, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have reported one case each.

“State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation,” the ministry said on its website.

Press Trust of India