The Union health ministry on Monday said that 905 new COVID-19 cases and 51 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 9,352 and deaths to 324.
In what comes as a positive development on the penultimate day of a nationwide lockdown, 25 districts across 15 states which had detected COVID-19 infections earlier have contained the spread and reported no new cases in 14 days, the ministry said.
The districts are Gondia (Maharashtra), Raj Nand Gaon (Chhattisgarh), Davangiri (Karnataka), South Goa, Wayanad and Kottayam (Kerala), West Imphal (Manipur), Rajouri (J&K), Aizwal West (Mizoram), Mahe in Puducherry, SBS Nagar in Punjab, Patna, Nalanda and Munger in Bihar, Pratapgarh in Rajasthan, Panipat, Rohtak and Sirsa in Haryana, Pauri Garhwal in Uttrakhand and Bhadradari Kothagudem in Telangana.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation at 10 am on Tuesday and is likely to talk about the further course of action to deal with the crisis posed by virus.
Cases in Maharashtra cross 2,000, count in Delhi up to 1,154
As many as 25 staff members of Mumbai's Bhatia hospital tested positive for coronavirus and number of cases in the city has reached 1549. The number of those who have died has reached 100 in the city.
Maharashtra with 2,064 cases continues to be the worst affected followed by Delhi with 1,154 cases and Tamil Nadu with 1075 cases. The number of containment zones in Delhi has been increased to 47.
New cases have been reported from several states including Kerala, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
Nagaland reported its first COVID-19 case following which several localities and a hospital in Dimapur have been sealed.
Uttarakhand Health Department said that no new positive COVID-19 case emerged in the state for the fifth day in a row.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said 2,06,212 COVID-19 tests were conducted till Sunday. "Of these 14,855 tests took place at 156 government labs and 1,913 tests happened at 69 private labs on Sunday," ICMR's head scientist Dr Raman R Gangakhedkar said at the daily media briefing on COVID-19 situation.
"At the pace at which we are conducting tests today, we have a stock with which we can conduct tests for the next six weeks easily," the ICMR official said.
He said a consignment of COVID-19 kits is expected to arrive from China on 15 April.
Administrative measures
The Union Health Ministry informed that 78,000 self-help group members of 27 states have produced 1.96 crore masks under the State Rural Livelihood Missions.
"Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna package, over 30,000 poor people have been provided financial support of Rs 28,256 crore during the lockdown up to April 10. This includes support of Rs 19.86 crore to Jan Dhan Yojna women account holders who were transferred Rs 9,930 crores.
"Under the PM Kisan Yojna, 6.93 crore farmers have been provided support of Rs 13,855 crore. Under social assistance programmes 2.82 crore widows, senior citizens and disabled have been provided support of Rs 1,405 crore," Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary in the Union health ministry, said.
Agarwal also said that the Core Strategy Group on COVID-19 was working on rapid and economical diagnostics as well as new drugs.
"The group has been formed, based on a detailed review of COVID-19 research, undertaken by Union Health Minister Harshvardhan along with CSIR and its 38 labs. The group is working on digital and molecular surveillance, rapid and economical diagnostics, new drugs, repurposing of drugs and associated production processes," he said.
In Delhi, traders at Delhi's Azadpur Mandi have been told to follow the odd-even rule according to their shed numbers to maintain social distancing. There will be staggered time for sale of vegetables and fruits in the mandis.
The Chandigarh government said all government schools and government-aided schools will be having summer vacations from 15 April till 15 May. The private schools will be advised to synchronise the same.
Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the state government has started a helpline through which we want to connect non-resident Assamese.
"They can call 9615471547, we'll register them. Once registered, we'll transfer an amount which will help them in surviving in another state till lockdown is completely lifted. We have also started an initiative to help the people who are stuck in different countries. To those residents of Assam, we have transferred $ 1,000."
He added, "Another initiative was to help critically ill patients, like those suffering from cancer, kidney and liver ailment. We have transferred Rs 25,000 each to all those patients so that they can continue to get treatment wherever they are today."
Global picture
The global toll of the novel coronavirus pandemic rose to 1,14,539 on Monday, according to the AFP tally.
"More than 1,853,300 declared cases have been registered in 193 countries and territories since the epidemic first emerged in China in December. Of these cases, at least 395,000 are now considered recovered," India Today reported.
Spain, one of the countries worst hit by the global coronavirus epidemic, on Monday started to ease tough lockdown restrictions that have kept people confined to their homes for more than a month and put a brake on economic activity, Reuters reported.
Spain’s cumulative death toll from the coronavirus rose to 17,489 on Monday, up 517 from 16,972 on Sunday, the Spanish health ministry said. Confirmed cases totalled 169,496, up from 166,019 the previous day.
However, this was the smallest proportional daily increase in the number of deaths and new infections.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is recuperating from his Covid-19 hospitalisation at his country retreat of Chequers, where he has been joined by his pregnant fiancee Carrie Symonds.
Downing Street has said that the prime minister would not be returning to work immediately and will be based at the sprawling 1,000-acre estate in Buckinghamshire, south-east England, for a recovery period on medical advice.
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab continues to deputise for Johnson as the UK entered a fourth week in lockdown on Monday and the country's total coronavirus death toll hit 10,612. UK ministers are required by law to review the strict social distancing measures by Thursday.
In a video message issued after his discharge from St Thomas' Hospital in London on Sunday, Johnson, 55, urged the public to continue to follow the stay-at-home advice in the ongoing fight against coronavirus.
With inputs from agencies
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