India’s Covid-19 count crosses 28,000-mark, death toll at 886
NEW DELHI : India’s novel coronavirus count has shot past 28,380. after the country recorded 1,463 fresh cases and 886 deaths in the last 24 hour amid the 40-day lockdown period, which is now in its final week.
During Health Ministry briefing on COVID-19 said on Monday, Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said that the recovery rate in teh country stands at 22.17% now. Meanwhile, the Union Home Affairs Ministry stated that around 2 crore people have been given employment through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) till now.
India reported a total of 1,975 cases of COVID-19 on April 26, which was the highest single-day spike in infection cases since India reported its first confirmed coronavirus case in Kerala on January 30 of this year.
Prime Minister in his virtual meet with the chief ministers of various states on Monday asked them to prepare state-wise exit policy in view of their Red, orange & Green zones. He added that the lockdown may continue in hotspots or red zone areas beyond May 3 adding that “we have to give importance to the economy as well as continue the fight against COVID-19.”
Out of nine 4 chief ministers have advocated for a lockdown extension beyond May 3 to combat further spread of COVID-19. The CMs made the demand in their meeting with PM Modi via video-conferencing on Monday.
The meeting went on for around 3 hours. PM Modi discussed several issues such as lockdown extension, the state of economy and lifting of restrictions etc in the wake of COVID-19 situation in the country. He also lauded the joint efforts of CMs to ensure lockdown rules are followed adding that the lockdown has been helpful in tackling the spread of novel coronavirus.
According to the evening numbers from the health ministry, Maharashtra remained the worst hit state with total number of positive cases rising to 8,068, followed by Gujarat at 3,301 cases, Delhi at 2,918 cases and Rajasthan at 2,185 cases, according to the data. Andhra Pradesh became the next state to cross the 1,000-mark in the number of Covid-19 cases with 1,177 cases so far.
The most-affected states according to the deaths recorded are Maharashtra (342), Delhi (54), Gujarat (151), Madhya Pradesh (106), Telangana (26), Andhra Pradesh (31), Uttar Pradesh (31), Punjab (18), Karnataka (20), Tamil Nadu (24), Rajasthan (41), West Bengal (20), Jammu and Kashmir (6), Kerala (4), Jharkhand (3), Haryana (3) and Bihar (2). Meghalaya, Odisha, Assam, Himachal Pradesh and have reported one death each.
(Bureau Report with Agency Inputs ).
