Coronavirus India Updates: Total Covid-19 Cases At 6,761, Death Toll At 206
Track latest news updates and developments on how the coronavirus situation is evolving in India here.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
India reported its deadliest day since the Covid-19 outbreak began in the country as infections crossed 6,700 amid a three-week lockdown.
Over the last 24 hours, there have been 37 deaths related to the novel coronavirus, according to the health ministry's website. That's the highest number of fatalities recorded in a single day in India.
The country added 896 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours—the biggest one day increase—taking the total tally to 6761, according to the health ministry's update on Friday evening. This includes 516 people who have recovered and 206 deaths.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi now faces the tough choice extending the lockdown, which has put millions of people out of work, beyond April 14 or not. Modi is set to discuss the extension with chief ministers on Saturday. Ahead of the meet, Odisha has extended the lockdown till April 30, while Punjab has extended it till May 1.
Globally, cases crossed 1.6 million leaving over 96,000 dead. While deaths are now slowing in parts of Europe, they are still accelerating in the U.S., which is on track to overtake Italy’s death toll in the coming days.
Track latest news updates and developments on how the coronavirus situation is evolving in India here:
15,663 Samples Tested Today, 433 Positive: ICMR
15,663 samples were tested today, out of which 433 were positive for Covid-19, the Indian Council of Medical Research said in a release.
There are 6,872 coronavirus cases in India, as of 9 p.m., according to ICMR.
A total of 1,61,330 samples from 1,47,034 individuals have been tested for coronavirus in India. The number of samples is higher because of repeat testing.
Dharavi Records 11 New Covid-19 Cases, Total Tally At 28
Eleven more people tested positive for coronavirus in Dharavi on Friday, taking the tally in one of Asia’s most crowded slums to 28.
Among the 11, three are women. One of them, aged 29, is the wife of a doctor who tested positive earlier in Vaibhav Nagar, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation officials said.
Read the details of all 28 cases here.
Expert Panel Favour Extending Tamil Nadu Lockdown
A 19 member expert committee constituted by the Tamil Nadu government has recommended to Chief Minister K Palaniswami that the lockdown be extended by two weeks beyond April 14 considering the rise in the number of cases.
Earlier, Palaniswami said a decision on lockdown extension will be taken based on the committee's recommendation. The panel wants the lockdown to be extended by 14 more days.
Source: PTI
Punjab Extends Lockdown Till May 1
The Punjab government on Friday announced to extend the coronavirus lockdown till April 30, becoming the second state after Odisha to do so.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the council of ministers in Chandigarh.
Punjab has seen a spike in the number of coronavirus cases in the past few days, pushing the total count to 132 so far with 11 deaths.
Biggest Spike In India Cases
India added 896 Covid-19 cases over the last 24 hours taking the total tally to 6,671. There have been 37 deaths during the same time.
- Active cases: 6,039
- Cured/discharged/migrated: 516
- Deaths: 206
