India has reported a spike of 3,604 Coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of infections to 70,756 till Tuesday morning. As many as 87 deaths were reported in the same period taking the toll to 2,293.

Of the total number of infections, 46,008 are active cases while 22,454 people have been cured of the deadly virus.

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Maharashtra remains the worst-hit state with 22,171 cases, followed by Gujarat that has 8,194 cases and Tamil Nadu reporting 7,204 cases so far.

Maharashtra has also reported the highest number of deaths, at least 868, which is followed by Gujarat (513) and Madhya Pradesh (221).

At least 7,233 people in the national capital have been infected with the highly contagious Coronavirus and 73 patients have died so far.

Other states which have reported more than 3,000 cases are Tamil Nadu (8,002), Rajasthan (3,988), Madhya Pradesh(3,785) and Uttar Pradesh (3,573).

Other major states and Union Territories that have reported more than 1,000 cases, are Andhra Pradesh (2,018), West Bengal (2,063), Punjab (1,877) and Telangana (1,275).

Among other major states and UTs that have reported a significant number of cases are, Bihar (747), Haryana (730), Jammu and Kashmir (879), Karnataka (862), Kerala (519), Odisha (414), Tripura (152) and Chandigarh (174).

States/UTs that have zero coronavirus cases are Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Mizoram and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. All individuals have been cured in these states/UTs and no casualty has been reported from here so far.

Meanwhile, on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a meeting with chief ministers, hinted at an extension of the nationwide lockdown for the fourth time beyond May 17, but with more relaxations.

“I am of the firm view that the measures needed in the first phase of lockdown were not needed during the second phase and similarly the measures needed in the third phase are not needed in the fourth,” the Prime Minister said, according to a statement released after the meeting.

Many states are in the favour of resuming economic activity outside containment zones.

After his last meeting with chief ministers in late April, the government had announced relaxations in orange and green zones.

On Monday, the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry reiterated that India has not gone into the community transmission stage yet.

It also termed reports of religion-based mapping of COVID-19 patients as “baseless, incorrect and irresponsible”.