The death toll due to novel coronavirus rose to 353 with 29 fatalities reported since Monday evening, while the number of cases saw a record jump of 1,463 to go up to 10,815 cases on Tuesday, according to the Union Health Ministry.
The number of active COVID-19 cases stands at 9,272 and as many as 1,189 people have been cured and discharged, and one has migrated, it said.
The total number of cases include 76 foreign nationals.
29 deaths have been reported since Monday evening, of which 11 deaths were reported from Maharashtra, seven from Madhya
Pradesh, four from Delhi, three from Karnataka, two from Andhra Pradesh and one each from Punjab and Telengana.
Of the total 353 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 160 fatalities, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 50, Delhi at 28, Gujarat at 26 and Telengana at 17. Punjab has reported 12 deaths, Tamil Nadu 11 while Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have reported nine deaths each.
West Bengal has reported seven deaths while five people have lost their lives in Uttar Pradesh.
Jammu and Kashmir has reported four fatalities each while Kerala, Haryana and Rajasthan have recorded three deaths each.
Jharkhand has reported two deaths.
Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Assam have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry's data.
However, a PTI tally of figures reported by various states as on Tuesday evening showed at least 10,986 cases and 365 deaths.
There has been a lag in the Union Health Ministry figures, compared to the number of deaths announced by different states, which officials attribute to procedural delays in assigning the cases to individual states.
According to the ministry's data updated in the evening, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 2,337 followed by Delhi at 1,510 and Tamil Nadu at 1,173.
COVID-19 cases have gone up to 879 in Rajasthan followed by 730 in Madhya Pradesh, 657 in Uttar Pradesh and 624 in Telengana.
Gujarat has 617 cases, followed by Andhra Pradesh at 473 and Kerala at 379.
The number of novel coronavirus cases has risen to 270 in Jammu and Kashmir, 258 in Karnataka, 199 in Haryana and 190 in West Bengal. Punjab has reported 176 infections so far.
Bihar has reported 66 cases, while Odisha has 55 coronavirus cases. 35 people were infected with the virus in Uttarakhand, while Himachal Pradesh has 32 cases followed by Assam and Chhattisgarh with 31 cases each.
Jharkhand has 24 cases, Chandigarh has 21 cases and Ladakh has 15, while 11 cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Goa and Puducherry have reported seven COVID-19 infections each, Manipur and Tripura have two cases each, while Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya have reported a case each.
'State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation,' the ministry said on its website.
602 hospitals earmarked as dedicated COVID-19 facilities: Health Ministry
A total of 602 hospitals have been earmarked as dedicated COVID-19 facilities in coordination with states with a capacity of 1,06,719 isolation beds and 12,024 ICU beds reserved for such patients in the country, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
According to an Indian Council of Medical Research official, 2.31 lakh tests have been conducted so far for COVID-19.
"We have tested 2.31 lakh samples, so far, including 21,635 samples yesterday. Out of these 18,644 were done in ICMR network of labs. We have enough kits to cover for a very long time," a senior ICMR official said.
The Health Ministry officials said that to break the virus chain in a particular area, not a single case should be reported from there for at least 28 days.
"If no case is reported for 28 days from a particular area, we can say that we have been able to break the chain of transmission there," the officials said.
The government officials said that to ensure the weaker section of the society continues to get basic amenities and is not impacted during the lockdown period, the swift implementation of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package is being monitored at the highest level.
The officials also said that as of April 13, financial support of Rs 29,352 crore has been provided to more than 32 crore poor people through DBT under the package, adding that free ration and food grains have been distributed to 5.29 crore beneficiaries under Garib Kalyan Yojna.
Also, 3,985 MT of pulses have been dispatched to various states and union territories for distribution, and more than 97 lakh free gas cylinders have been delivered to beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujwala Yojna (PMUY), they said.
They added Rs 14,946 crore have been transferred to 7.47 crore farmers towards the first installment of PM Kisan scheme and Rs 9,930 crore have been disbursed to 19.86 crore women Jan Dhan account holders through DBT.
