Coronavirus Outbreak: India registers 18,522 new COVID-19 cases; tally crosses 5.66 lakh

As the coronavirus cases in India continue to spread rapidly, India is now just behind the United States, Brazil, and Russia in terms of the total confirmed cases. It is, therefore, the biggest epicenter of the coronavirus disease pandemic in Asia and the fourth worst-affected nation in the world.

With over 18,000 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 count on Monday crossed the 5.66 lakh-mark, while the death toll has crossed the 16,800-mark as well.

At 9:30 AM on this day, the COVID-19 tally in the country has reached 5,66,840 cases, which includes 2,15,125 active cases; 3,34,822 cured, discharged, or migrated patients, and 16,893 deaths.

According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, as many as 18,522 new COVID-19 cases and 418 deaths were reported in the country in the last 24 hours, marking a significant spike.

Maharashtra continues to be the epicenter of the coronavirus spread where the number of cases has witnessed an even large spike recently. According to the Health Ministry, Maharashtra has the highest number of cases with 1,69,883 positive cases of COVID-19 infection and 7,610 deaths. 

Notably, Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, has become the hotbed of the coronavirus spread in the state where the number of cases has crossed the 76,700-mark and the death toll has topped the 4,400-mark as well. At 9:30 AM on this day, the COVID-19 tally in Mumbai showed 76,765 cases and 4,463 deaths.

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.

Maharashtra is followed by Tamil Nadu with 86,224 cases. The state crossed Delhi to take up second place in the list due to a recent massive surge in the number of cases.

The national capital is third on the list with 85,161 cases.

After Delhi comes Gujarat, where the COVID-19 figure stands at 32,023 cases with 23,248 patients recovered and 1,828 fatalities. Uttar Pradesh has reported 22,828 cases of which 15,506 have recovered and 672 patients are dead.

Rajasthan has reported 17,660 positive cases so far of which 13,921 patients have recovered and 405 patients have lost their lives due to the virus. In West Bengal, as many as 17,907 people have confirmed COVID-19, of which 11,719 recovered and 653 people succumbed to it.

In Kerala, which reported the country's first COVID-19 case, 4,312 people have been detected positive for coronavirus so far.

Meanwhile, India's first COVID-19 vaccine COVAXIN developed by Bharat Biotech got the nod for human trials by the Drug Controller General of India on Monday (June 29).

The total number of samples tested up to 29 June is 86,08,654 of which 2,10,292 samples were tested yesterday, said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The central government still keeps denying that community transmission is taking place in India.