The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus pandemic in India neared 13,000 while the death toll rose to 420 on Thursday, as per the latest update from the Union Health Ministry. Of the total cases, 1,514 people have been treated and discharged so far. Maharashtra has been the worst affected, with over 3,000 cases and 194 deaths, followed by Delhi with 1578 infections and 32 deaths. Tamil Nadu, with the third most number of infections, reported 62 recoveries in a day. Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh witnessed the highest surge among any other state, with the total number of cases at 1,120. Kerala, which has flattened the curve, reported 27 more recoveries.
286 new COVID-19 cases found in Maharashtra, taking tally to; death toll up to 194 with 7 more fatalities:
The lockdown has now been extended till May 3 as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday. As many as 170 districts have been identified by the government as COVID-19 ‘hotspots’ or ‘red zones’ and another 207 districts as ‘potential hotspots’. The MHA Wednesday announced that the lockdown would be relaxed from April 20 in some areas like the rural and agriculture sector, manufacturing in SEZs and industrial zones, e-commerce and for MNREGA work. However, it said that strict restrictions would continue in the containment zones across the country.
In Chandigarh, 21 people have contracted coronavirus so far, out of whom seven have recovered. Embarking on an ambitious project, CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH) on Thursday said it has initiated whole genome sequencing of the novel coronavirus SARS-Cov-2.
These are figures from the Union Health Ministry. There has been a lag in the Ministry figures, compared to the number of deaths announced by different states, which officials attribute to procedural delays in assigning the cases to individual states
