With the confirmed coronavirus cases in India breaching 1,000-mark in last 24 hours, the total Covid-19 cases in the country have surged to 7,529, according to the Union Health Ministry data. As many as 242 deaths have been reported in the country so far.
There are 6,634 active COVID-19 patients in the country, while 652 patients have been discharged or cured of the highly contagious disease. Out of these, one patient has migrated from the country.
During the Health Ministry press briefing, Punya Salila Srivastava, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs said," Ministry of Home Affairs in a letter today requested states/UTs to provide police security to doctors and other medical staff, as needed, in the hospitals and the quarantine facilities where they are working."
Lav Aggrawal, Joint Secy, Health Ministry informed that there were 586 Covid-19 dedicated hospitals and more than 1 lakh isolation beds in the country.
Stressing on the question of the ongoing nationwide lockdown, Aggrawal added, "Lockdown and containment measures are important to fight Covid-19. If we had not taken any measures then we might have had 2 lakh cases at this time."
With over 7,500 confirmed cases including 71 foreign nationals, Maharashtra remained the worst-hit state as it has recorded 1,574 total Covid-19 cases and 110 deaths so far.
Maharashtra was followed by Tamil Nadu (911) and Delhi (903) in terms of highest number of cases in the country, state-wise.
Apart from Maharashtra, the other most-affected states according to the deaths recorded are Delhi (14) Gujarat (19), Telangana (9), Madhya Pradesh (33), Punjab (11), Karnataka (6), West Bengal (5), Jammu and Kashmir (4), Uttar Pradesh (4) Kerala (2), Andhra Pradesh (6) Rajasthan (3) Haryana (3) and Tamil Nadu (8). Bihar, Odisha, Assam, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Mizoram have reported one death each.
Here is total coronavirus cases in India, state-wise:
Andhra Pradesh - 381
Andaman and Nicobar Islands - 11
Arunachal Pradesh - 1
Assam - 29
Bihar - 60
Chandigarh - 18
Chhattisgarh - 18
Delhi - 903
Goa - 7
Gujarat - 308
Haryana - 177
Himachal Pradesh - 28
Jammu and Kashmir - 207
Jharkhand - 17
Karnataka -214
Kerala - 364
Ladakh - 15
Madhya Pradesh - 443
Maharashtra - 1574
Manipur - 2
Mizoram - 1
Odisha - 48
Puducherry - 7
Punjab - 132
Rajasthan - 553
Tamil Nadu - 911
Telangana - 504
Tripura - 2
Uttarakhand - 35
Uttar Pradesh - 433
West Bengal - 126
Mint earlier reported that several states on Saturday pitched for an extension of the 21-day nationwide lockdown that the country is currently observing till 14 April, during their video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to government officials.
A few of the state governments such as Punjab and Odisha have already gone ahead with plans to extend the nationwide lockdown. Kerala and Maharashtra are likely to follow suit for at least some parts.
Globally, the total number of cases have shot past 1.6 million with the pandemic taking lives of more than 100,800 people, according to the latest Johns Hopkins University.
On Friday, the United States became the first country to record more than 2,000 coronavirus deaths in one day, with 2,108 fatalities in the past 24 hours, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally.
The US has now recorded 18,586 deaths and is closing in on the toll of 18,849 dead in Italy, which has seen the most fatalities so far in the global pandemic.
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