India records 11,933 coronavirus COVID-19 positive cases: Check states with highest and lowest infection rates

India recorded a spike of 1,076 new coronavirus COVID-19 cases in 24 hours, taking the total number of positive cases to 11,933, including 392 deaths at 10.30 pm (IST) on Wednesday (April 15), according to the Union Health Ministry. As many as 1,344 people have been either cured, discharged, or migrated, it said. According to the ministry's data updated in the evening, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra and the lowest in northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram.

The top ten states that have recorded more than 300 positive cases till 5 pm (IST) on April 15 are Maharashtra with 2,687 cases, followed by Delhi with 1561 cases, Tamil Nadu with 1,204 cases, Rajasthan with 1005 cases, Madhya Pradesh with 987 cases, Uttar Pradesh with 735 cases, Gujarat with 695 cases, Telangana with 647 cases, Andhra Pradesh with 503 cases and Kerala with 387 cases.

The next 11 states with cases between 31 to 300 till 5 pm (IST) on April 15 are-- Jammu and Kashmir with 278 cases, Karnataka with 277 cases, West Bengal with 213 cases, Haryana with 199 cases, Punjab with 186 cases, Bihar with 70 cases, Odisha with 60 cases, Uttarakhand with 37 cases, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Assam with 33 cases each.

The states that have till 5 pm (IST) on April 15 recorded the least number of cases, i.e. cases between 1-30, are Jharkhand with 27 cases, Chandigarh with 21 cases, Ladakh with 17 cases, Andaman and Nicobar Islands with 11 cases, Puducherry, Meghalaya and Goa with 7 cases each, Tripura and Manipur with two cases each and Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh with one case each. A patient from Nagaland has been shifted to Assam.

The ten states across the country that recorded the highest number of deaths till 5 pm (IST) on April 15 due to COVID-19 are--Maharashtra (178), Madhya Pradesh (53), Delhi (30), Gujarat (30), Telangana (18), Punjab (13), Tamil Nadu (12), Uttar Pradesh (11), Karnataka (11) and Andhra Pradesh (9).

The Union Health Ministry clarified that so far no community transmission in India took place but added that there have been some local outbreaks. It asserted that 170 districts have been identified as COVID-19 hotspots and 207 districts as cluster containment across the country after the districts were categorised into three zones. It added the districts across the country have been categorised in three levels to identify the coronavirus COVID-19 hotspots.

All the districts have been categorised based on the occurrence of COVID-19 cases in each of them in order to efficiently manage the fight against coronavirus pandemic, the government said. 

The three categories are hotspot districts, non-hotspot districts but where cases are being reported and green zone districts said Ministry of Health Joint Secretary Lav Agrawal while addressing a press conference. A total of 170 districts have been identified as COVID-19 hotspots and 207 districts as cluster containment across the country after the districts were categorised into three zones. 

The Joint Secretary said that hotspots are selected on two grounds, one where cases are emerging more and the other where the doubling rate is higher. If there are less than or equal to 15 cases in an area, then it is considered as a cluster containment zone. 

Containment operation would be deemed over when there is no case reported in 28 days from an area after the last case tests negative. Hotspots (designated red zones) will be assumed to be undertaking effective containment activities if no case is reported in next 14 days (designated orange zones) and will be deemed successful in containment if no case is reported for 28 days (designated green zones), according to a statement by the Health Ministry.

Indian Council of Medical Research's (ICMR) R Gangakhedkar said, "As per research in China, it was found that coronavirus might have originated due to mutation in bats. Bats might have transmitted it to pangolins, from pangolins it got transmitted to humans. We also conducted surveillance, in which we found that there are two types of bats, and they carried coronavirus which was not capable of affecting humans. It's rare, maybe once in 1,000 years that it gets transmitted from bats to humans."