NEW DELHI :  Even as the world reels under the coronavirus pandemic which has brought nearly half the world to a halt in an effort to stop the spread of the contagion, the number of COVID-19 fatalities and positive cases are on a steady rise.
In India, the total number of cases reported is 2069, of them, 53 people are dead . As many as 437 cases were found in the last 24 deaths which  is the highest rise in the country till date. 235 fresh cases being detected within the last 24 hours.
Much of the spike has come from the religious event held in Delhi last month. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Delhi were among the places to report a large number of new cases.
Around 50 members of medical staff, including doctors, nurses, and paramedics, across the country have tested positive for Coronavirus, said a Health Ministry official on Thursday (April 2), while addressing media.
According to Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare “328 new cases of COVID-19 and 12 deaths have been reported since Wednesday, thus taking the total number of confirmed cases to 1,965 and the number of deaths to 50 in the country,” said
Indian Council of Medical Research has given the approval to 126 government laboratories and 52 private laboratories chains to conduct the test of Coronavirus. Yesterday, Head Scientist, ICMR Delhi, Raman R Gangakhedkar has said that around 48 thousand tests have been conducted so far and the current capacity utilization is 38 per cent.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has expressed concern that the numbers may go further up as the countrywide contact tracing of the people who attended the event progresses further.

This evening, PM Narendra Modi held his first video-conference with Chief Ministers on coronavirus, where he asked them to decide on the process of phased movement of people as the lockdown is lifted. The Centre, meanwhile, has asked the states to jail people who violate the lockdown.
“It is important to formulate a common exit strategy to ensure staggered re-emergence of the population once the lockdown ends,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, according to a statement giving details of the interaction.
The Prime Minister also tweeted that he would share a video message tomorrow morning, which many believe would be linked to the coronavirus outbreak. “At 9 AM tomorrow morning, I’ll share a small video message with my fellow Indians,” his tweet read.

Those violating the coronavirus lockdown or obstructing officials should be sent to jail for one or two years, the government today told state governments, directing stern action under existing laws.

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah hit out at the Congress today, accusing the opposition party of “playing petty politics” while PM Modi’s efforts to contain the COVID-19 infection “are being lauded domestically and globally”. In a tweet posted this evening, Mr Shah urged the Congress to “think of national interest and stop misleading people”.
A resident doctor from Delhi’s prestigious AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) tested positive for the novel coronavirus today; he is the seventh Delhi doctor to contract the highly contagious virus. Two of the other doctors work out of Safdarjung Hospital.

Also in Mumbai, a second coronavirus case has been reported from Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum, in less than 24 hours, heightening worries of a rapid spread in the financial capital. Yesterday, a 56-year-old man who tested positive for the highly contagious virus died. He had no travel history.
The sharp increase in the number of cases has been linked to the controversial religious gathering held by Islamic group Tablighi Jamaat at the Markaz Nizamuddin in south Delhi.
The ICMR (Indian Council for Medical Research, the government’s nodal body to deal with the outbreak, has recommended that every resident in a coronavirus hotspot be tested with a fast-track Rapid Antibody test.Antibody tests are similar to blood tests. The results are available in 15-30 minutes.
(With Agency Inputs ).