Confirmed coronavirus cases in India cross 600-mark; Maharashtra worst-hit state

New Delhi: The confirmed coronavirus cases in India rose to 606 on Wednesday, of whom 43 are foreign nationals, said the Union Health Ministry. There have been ten deaths so far in the country. Incidentally, Wednesday happens to be the first day of the 21-day nationwide lockdown announced by PM Modi on Tuesday evening.

The number of active cases are 553. Maharashtra is the most affected state with 128 positive cases, followed by Kerala with 109 cases (including eight foreign nationals).

Madhya Pradesh registered its first death due to coronavirus when a 65-year-old woman from the major pilgrim town Ujjain died on Wednesday afternoon.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan chaired a GoM meeting to assess the situation in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country.

While assuring that the government is making efforts to ensure personal protective equipment (PPE) and N-95 masks are available in adequate numbers to help the medical fraternity in their job, health ministry officials said 29 private laboratories with over 16,000 sample collection centres have been registered so far for testing of COVID-19.

"PPEs and masks have some imported components. There are disruptions with respect to import of certain items. The government is trying to address the issue," the official said.

According to officials, the ministry of home affairs is monitoring the lockdown through a control room.

The health ministry in its updated figures on Wednesday morning, stated the second death reported in Delhi was Covid-19 negative.

There has been a sudden spurt in the number of positive cases in the state with the virus striking India's cleanest city, Indore, on Wednesday. With four positive cases being reported from Indore and one from Ujjain, the number of Covid-19 cases has risen 15. State capital Bhopal also reported a positive case on Wednesday.

In a freak chain of events, a journalist, who had attended former Chief Minister Kamal Nath's press conference last Friday and had received his daughter returning from England earlier in the week, tested positive on Wednesday. His daughter was reported positive on Saturday.

With three new positive cases of coronavirus in Gujarat, the total count of Covid-19 patients in the state has surged to 38, the health authorities said on Wednesday.

The health officials have finished surveying more than 1 crore people in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in the state.

Here is a state-wise count of coronavirus as per the health ministry:

Andhra Pradesh 9

Bihar 4

Chhattisgarh 1

Delhi 31

Gujarat 38

Haryana 28

Himachal Pradesh 3

Karnataka 41

Kerala 109

Madhya Pradesh 14

Maharashtra 128

Odisha 2

Puducherry 1

Punjab 29

Rajasthan 36

Tamil Nadu 18

Telangana 35

Chandigarh 7

Jammu and Kashmir 7

Ladakh 13

Uttar Pradesh 37

Uttarakhand 4

West Bengal 9

Also, 42 people have been cured. In a heart warming gesture, a Pune-based couple, the first Covid-19 patients in Maharashtra, received an emotional welcome from the members of their housing society when they reached their homes on Wednesday afternoon after being discharged from a hospital following recovery.

Residents of the housing society, located on Sinhgad Road in Pune, came out in their balconies and clapped and clanged their utensils to greet the 51-year-old man and his 43-year-old wife.

With inputs from agencies