India has confirmed 328 new Covid-19 patients and 12 more deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the number of positive cases to 1,965 by 9 am on Thursday. The toll has now risen to 50.

Since Sunday morning, when there were 979 cases, the total number of cases has now doubled in the last four days.

Maharashtra remained the worst-hit state, with 335 cases so far. Kerala has 265 cases, followed by Tamil Nadu with 234 cases, Delhi with 152, Uttar Pradesh with 113, and Karnataka with 110 positive cases so far. Thirteen patients have died in Maharashtra, six each in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, and four in Punjab.

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The number of patients who have recovered rose to 150 by Thursday morning, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said. Out of the 1,965 patients, 1,764 are active cases.

Image credit: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

The government had issued the previous update on Wednesday night, confirming a rise of 437 cases in the preceding 24 hours. This was the highest single-day increase so far.

On Wednesday, the Centre had attributed the spike in coronavirus cases to a religious gathering in Nizamuddin locality of Delhi. After the gathering organised by the Tablighi Jamaat, participants left for several parts of the country, possibly with Covid-19 infections. Dozens of cases have been found among such people across the country, and state governments are continuing efforts to trace and quarantine the others.

Globally, the number of Covid-19 positive cases crossed the nine lakh mark on Wednesday. The number now stands at 9,37,567, including over 47,000 deaths, according to a tracker by Johns Hopkins University.