Cases in India cross 50,000-mark

New Delhi: The number of coronavirus cases in India crossed the 50,000 mark today -- more than four months after the first case was detected in Kerala. The last 10,000 patients were detected over a period three days.

The total number of cases is now 50,545, the maximum of them from Maharashtra. More than 14,000 people have recovered and more than 1,650 people have died. Maharashtra currently has 16,758 cases, of which 1,233 cases were reported today.

A chunk of the patients are from Mumbai, which has so far reported 10,714 cases. Gujarat has the second highest numbers, 6200-plus, followed by the national capital, which has more than 5,000 cases. Delhi is followed by Tamil Nadu, where the figure has crossed 4,000. The highly contagious virus, which made an appearance in China's Wuhan in December and became a global pandemic in March, had reached India in January.

The first case was detected in Kerala on January 30, the patient was a student who was studying at the Wuhan University. The numbers started shooting up in March, pushing state after states to announce restrictions days before the Centre announced the countrywide lockdown on March 25.