The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection in India crossed the 31,000-mark on Wednesday, while the death toll has topped the 1,000-mark as well. As of 10 AM, India's COVID-19 tally has mounted to 31,332 cases, which includes 22,629 active cases, 7,696 cured, discharged, or migrated patients, and 1,007 deaths.

According to the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, as many as 73 new deaths have been reported in the country in the last 24 hours.

In India, the state of Maharashtra has emerged as the epicenter of coronavirus spread where cases have crossed the 9,300-mark with at least 400 deaths. The Health Ministry puts Maharashtra as the state with the most number of COVID-19 cases in India with 9,318 cases of which, 1,388 patients have been cured/discharged while 400 patients have succumbed to the virus.

Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, has become the hotbed of the coronavirus spread in the state. Notably, one of the real challenges in Mumbai is controlling the disease contamination in Asia's biggest slum -- Dharavi, which is an extremely densely-populated region.

Gujarat has the second-highest number of positive cases in the country with 3,744 cases including 434 patients cured/discharged and 181 deaths.

Delhi's tally stands at 3,314 cases of which, 1,078 patients have recovered while 54 patients have succumbed to the virus.

Madhya Pradesh has a total of 2,387 positive cases including 377 patients recovered/discharged and 120 fatalities.

Meanwhile, Goa (seven cases; all seven recovered), Arunachal Pradesh (one case; now recovered), Manipur (two cases; both recovered), Tripura (two cases; both recovered) have reported no new cases of COVID-19.

Looking at the total statistical data available for India, the Health Ministry has said that the combined population of 20 nations where the maximum number of COVID-19 cases has been found is almost the same as India's population and these nations have together reported 84 times the number of cases reported in India. In comparison to these 20 nations, India has reported only 1/200 times the total number of deaths that occurred in these 20 countries.

In terms of treatment, India has been trying out convalescent plasma therapy, where antibodies from the blood of patients who have recovered from COVID-19 are used to treat serious patients. However, the Centre on Tuesday clarified that the use of plasma therapy without approval from the relevant authority can not only be harmful to the patient but also illegal as it is currently in an experimental stage.

As the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak continues to spread like wildfire in India, the central and state governments are respectively amping up all of their efforts to check potential contamination. A nationwide lockdown is in place, as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 14, who had declared an extension of the nationwide lockdown till May 3 to battle the novel coronavirus. Wednesday marks Day 15 of the extended COVID-19 Lockdown 2.0.