Coronavirus update: 697 fresh COVID-19 cases, 109 deaths reported so far

India has reported 697 new cases of coronavirus infection in the last 24 hours. Fresh cases have been reported from Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Kerala, Odisha, Haryana, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh.  According to Health Ministry data, India has reported a total of 3,666 active COVID-19 positive cases whereas 109 people have died due to the virus. The updated health Ministry figures also show that 291 people have been cured till date.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases till date at 690 and 45 deaths.  Maharashtra is followed closely by Tamil Nadu and Delhi. Tamil Nadu has reported 571 coronavirus positive cases and 5 deaths whereas Delhi has reported 503 COVID-19 cases and 7 deaths.

Rajasthan has a total of 274 coronavirus positive cases so far after 8 more people tested positive - 5 in Jhunjhunu, 2 from Dungarpur and 1 in Kota. Out of the 8 fresh cases reported from Rajasthan, 6 have links to the Markaz event. The five people from Jhunjhunu and one from Dungarpur had attended the Tableeghi Jamaat event in Nizamuddin, Delhi.

According to the Joint Health Secretary Lav Agarwal, the rate of doubling of COVID-19 cases in India is 4.1 days at present. Agarwal attributed this rate of doubling of COVID-19 cases to the Tablighi Jamaat event that took place in Delhi. He was also quoted by PTI as saying, "If the Tablighi Jamaat incident had not taken place and we compare the rate of doubling - that is in how many days the cases have doubled, we will see that currently it is 4.1 days (including Jamaat cases) and if the incident had not taken place and additional cases had not come then the doubling rate would have been 7.4 days."

Talking of global coronavirus figures, over 12 lakh people are infected from novel coronavirus and the death toll has reached 69,456.

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