India's Coronavirus Case Tally Nears 19,000; Death Toll Reaches 603

The total number of Coronavirus cases in India stood at 18,985 on Tuesday, the Ministry of Health and Family welfare said, adding that the death toll in the country due to the virus has reached 603 so far.

In an evening update, the Health Ministry said that out of these, 15,122 are active cases.

"At least 3,259 people have been cured so far. Our rate of recovery is highest today-17.48 per cent," Joint Secretary, Health, Lav Agarwal said at the daily media briefing.

Maharashtra continued to be the worst hit with 46,69 total cases, followed by Delhi with 2,081 cases. The national capital has seen 47 fatalities.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan has witnessed 1,576 cases and 25 deaths while Tamil Nadu has seen 1,520 cases and 17 deaths so far.

However, four districts - Mahe (Puducherry), Kodagu (Karnataka), Pauri Garhwal (Uttrakhand) and Pratapgarh (Rajasthan) have not reported any fresh cases during the last 28 days. "There are now 61 additional districts from 23 States/UT that have not reported any fresh cases during the last 14 days. Four new districts have been included in the list: Latur, Osmanabad, Hingoli and Washim from Maharashtra," Agarwal said.

Globally, the coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 170,000 people, close to two-thirds of them in hardest-hit Europe, according to an AFP tally Tuesday.

In total, 170,226 people have died from the virus around the world, including 106,737 in Europe. With 42,364 deaths, the United States has the highest mortality rate, followed by Italy with 24,114 fatalities and Spain's 21,282. France has 20,265 deaths and Britain 16,509.

(With IANS inputs)