Coronavirus Outbreak: COVID-19 tally in India nears 63,000-mark; death toll tops 2,000-mark

The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection in India neared the 63,000-mark on Sunday, while the death toll has topped the 2,000-mark as well. At 9 AM on this day, the COVID-19 tally in the country has reached 62,939 cases, which includes 41,472 active cases; 19,358 cured, discharged, or migrated patients, and 2,109 deaths.

According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, as many as 3,277 new COVID-19 cases and 127 deaths were reported in the country in the last 24 hours. Yesterday, the COVID-19 tally in India had crossed the 59,000-mark, while the death toll was just nearing the 2,000-mark.

However, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has said that India's recovery rate from the COVID-19 disease is around 30.75%, insisting that "one out of every three hospitalised patients" have recovered from COVID-19 in the country till date.

In India, the state of Maharashtra has emerged as the epicenter of the coronavirus spread where the number of cases witnessed a massive spike recently. According to the Health Ministry, Maharashtra has the highest number of cases with around 20,228 positive cases of infection and 779 deaths.

Notably, Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, has become the hotbed of the coronavirus spread in the state where the number of cases has crossed the 12,800-mark and the death toll is over 480. At 9 AM on this day, the COVID-19 tally in Mumbai showed 12,864 cases and 489 deaths.

One of the real challenges in Mumbai is controlling the disease contamination in Asia's biggest slum -- Dharavi, which is an extremely densely-populated region.

Maharashtra is followed by Gujarat with 7,797 cases and Delhi with 6,542 cases.

While Tamil Nadu's COVID-19 figure stands at 6,535 with 1,824 patients recovered and 44 fatalities, Rajasthan has reported 3,741 cases of which 2,176 has recovered and 107 patients are dead.

Madhya Pradesh has reported 3,457 positive cases so far of which 1,480 patients have recovered and 211 patients have lost their lives due to the virus. In Uttar Pradesh, as many as 3,373 people have confirmed COVID-19, of which 1,499 recovered and 74 people succumbed to it.

In Kerala, which reported the country's first COVID-19 case, 506 people have been detected positive for coronavirus.

Last month, Union Health Minister Dr. Harshvardhan had informed us that a high-level task force has been formed to work on the frontiers of science related to drug testing and vaccines.

Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has partnered with biotech firm Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) to develop a fully indigenous vaccine for COVID-19 using the virus strain isolated at ICMR’s National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune. The strain has been successfully transferred from NIV to Bharat Biotech International Ltd. (BBIL).