India logged 6,977 new patients in the last 24 hours for the fourth consecutive day, taking the total to nearly 1,38,845 with 4,021 people losing their lives to the coronavirus pandemic.

Coronavirus contagion spreads by 'just talking'
India witnessed a spike of over 6,000 cases of Covid-19 and also recorded 154 fresh fatalities in 24 hours.

The country witnessed a spike of over 6,000 cases of Covid-19 and also recorded 154 fresh fatalities in 24 hours. The Covid-19 pandemic has spread to 196 countries and territories since it began in China's Wuhan city in December last year.

According to the Union Health and Family Welfare department data, India witnessed a surge of 6,977 new cases in the last 24 hours. Of the total 1,38,845 cases, 77,103 are active cases while 57,720 people have been cured, including 3,280 cured in the last 24 hours.

Maharashtra remains the worst-hit

Maharashtra continued to be the worst-hit state with 50,231 cases. 3,041 new cases and 58 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours the took the tally of fatalities to 1,635. Of the 50,231 cases a total of 14,600 have been cured.

Tamil Nadu stood second with 16,277 cases, and Gujarat third with 14,056 cases. The death toll was 111 in Tamil Nadu and 858 in Gujarat.

Delhi reported 13,418 cases and 261 casualties, while 6,412 patients have been cured here.

States/UTs with more than 5,000 COVID-19 cases are Rajasthan (7,028), Madhya Pradesh (6,665) and Uttar Pradesh (6,268). Others with more than 1,000 cases are West Bengal (3,667), Andhra Pradesh (2,823), Punjab (2,060), Telangana (1,854), Bihar (2,587), Jammu and Kashmir (1,621), Karnataka (2,089), Odisha (1,336) and Haryana (1,184). States and UTs with significant number of cases are Kerala (847), Jharkhand (370), Chandigarh (238), Assam (378), Tripura (191), Chhattisgarh (252) and Uttarakhand (317).

Sikkim and Dadra and Nagar Haveli did not report any fresh incident in the last 24 hours, as per ministry data. Goa has reported 66 cases so far. A spurt has been observed in Pudducherry which now has 41 cases. There are now 52 cases in Ladakh.

India is the tenth most affected country by the Covid pandemic after the United States, Brazil, Russia, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France, Germany. The United States - epicentre of the pandemic - has reported over 1.6 million cases and almost 1,00,000 deaths linked to the deadly virus.

(With agency inputs)