India registered a record jump of 83 deaths and 2,487 cases in 24 hours, even as Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Sunday that the growth rate of COVID-19 cases has been steadying for a while and the nation was on the path of winning the war against the pandemic.
The number of COVID-19 fatalities rose to 1,306 and total cases climbed to 40,263 on Sunday, according to the health ministry.
With the country set to enter the third phase of the lockdown from Monday, Vardhan urged people to observe the curbs extended till May 17 in the letter and spirit, and treat it as an effective intervention to cut the chain of transmission of the virus.
"We are on the path of success. We will win this war against COVID-19," he said after visiting the Lady Hardinge Medical College Hospital (LHMC) in Delhi to review the status of COVID-19 management.
He said around 10,000 people have been cured of the disease so far.
"The recovery rate of COVID-19 patients has steadily increased, which shows that more and more patients are getting better and going back home. The rate of growth of new cases has also been steadying for a while," he said.
According to data received on Sunday, for the past three days the doubling rate of the virus is 12 days, for seven days it is 11.7 and for 14 days it is 10.4, the minister was quoted as saying in a statement.
"We have crossed over 10 lakh tests and are performing over 74,000 tests in a day presently," he said.
The government has distributed around 20 lakh PPE kits all over India and supplied medicines, both hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and paracetamol (PCM), to more than 100 countries, Vardhan added.
He said India is on a "better footing" compared to other nations in managing the pandemic, adding that with more than 2.5 lakh beds in dedicated COVID-19 hospitals and health centres, the country is capable of pulling off any eventuality.
The health minister urged people not to ostracise doctors treating COVID-19 patients or stigmatise those who have survived the deadly disease.
According to the health ministry's evening update, the number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 28,070, while 10,886 people have recovered and one patient has migrated.
The total number of cases also include 111 foreign nationals.
Of the 83 deaths reported since Saturday evening, 36 were from Maharashtra, 26 from Gujarat, 11 from Madhya Pradesh, three each from Rajasthan and Delhi, two from Telangana and one each from Tamil Nadu and Bihar.
With 521 fatalities, Maharashtra accounts for the maximum of the nationwide 1,306 deaths. Gujarat comes second with 262 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh 156, Rajasthan 65, Delhi 64, Uttar Pradesh 43, and West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh 33 each.
The death toll reached 29 in Tamil Nadu, 28 in Telangana, while Karnataka has reported 25 fatalities due to the respiratory disease. Punjab has registered 20 COVID-19 deaths, Jammu and Kashmir eight, Kerala, Bihar and Haryana have reported four deaths each. Jharkhand has recorded three COVID-19 fatalities.
Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Assam have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry data. The health ministry's Saturday evening update had put the death toll at 1,223 and the number of cases at 37,776 in the country.
A PTI tally of figures on Sunday reported by states directly showed at least 1,328 deaths across the country while the number of confirmed cases of infection had reached 40,440. Of them, 10,661 have been cured and discharged.
There has been a lag in the Union Health Ministry figures, compared to the aggregate of numbers announced by different states, which officials attribute to procedural delays in assigning the cases to individual states.
Vardhan, in his remarks, said India's fight against COVID-19 is "lauded not only by WHO, but by the whole world in unison".
At the COVID-19 block in the Lady Hardinge Medical College Hospital, Vardhan spoke through a video call to two intern doctors who got infected with the virus while treating patients and were admitted at the facility.
He also interacted with two patients admitted in the COVID-19 ward through the digital platform, who, in turn, apprised him about the facilities in the ward.
"In last few days, I have been visiting various hospitals like AIIMS (Delhi), LNJP, RML, Safdarjung, AIIMS, Jhajjar, Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty and now LHMC to review the preparedness of COVID-19. I am satisfied with the arrangements made by these hospitals to effectively deal with the coronavirus outbreak," Vardhan said.
He also said there are 130 COVID-19 hotspots districts, 284 non-hotspot districts and 319 non-infected districts in the country.