Number of coronavirus cases in India rise to 258

New Delhi: Coronavirus cases in India have surged to 258 after the country witnessed a steep rise in COVID-19 infected people on Friday, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). At least 50 people were detected with coronavirus from different part of the country. The health ministry said that the virus is fast-spreading in various parts of the country. Globally, more than 2.5 lakh people have been infected with COVID-19 while over 10,000 people have already died.

According to the Heatlh Ministry, 258 individuals have been tested positive among suspected cases and contacts of known positive cases. A total of 15,404 samples from 14,514 individuals have been tested for SARS-CoV2 as on March 20, the apex health research body said. Among the 223 figure of coronavirus cases are 32 foreign nationals, including 17 from Italy, three from the Philippines, two from the UK, one each belonging to Canada, Indonesia and Singapore.

The figure also includes four deaths reported from Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra so far.

"The total number of active COVID-19 cases across India stands at 196 so far," the ministry said, adding that 23 others have been cured/discharged/migrated while four have died.

Delhi has, so far, reported 17 positive cases, which includes one foreigner, while Uttar Pradesh has recorded 23 cases, including one foreigner.  Maharashtra has 52 cases, including three foreigners, while Kerala has recorded 28 cases, which include two foreign nationals.

Karnataka has 15 coronavirus patients. The number of cases in Ladakh rose to 10 and Jammu and Kashmir four. Telangana has reported 17 cases, which include nine foreigners.

Rajasthan has also reported 17 cases, including that of two foreigners. Gujarat has reported five cases so far.

Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand have reported three cases each.

West Bengal, Odisha and Punjab each reported two cases while Puducherry, Chhattisgarh and Chandigarh reported one case each. In Haryana, there are 17 cases, which include 14 foreigners.

"A total of 14,376 samples from 13,486 individuals have been tested for SARS-CoV2 as on March 20," ICMR officials said.