Coronavirus cases in India count crosses the 23,000 mark— with 718 dead and a 20.57% recovery rate

• "In the last 24 hours, 1684 COVID-19 positive cases have been reported, which takes our total confirmed case to 23,077. Our recovery rate is 20.57%," said Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry.
  
• Maharashtra remained the worst-hit state with a total number of cases rising to 6,430, followed by Gujarat which reported 2,624 cases and Delhi which has reported 2,376 cases.
  
• Tripura became the third coronavirus- free state after its second COVID-19 patient tested negative.

A month into the nation-wide lockdown, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country mounted to 23,077 as on Friday (April 24), according to the Union Health Ministry data.

Of the total cases, 17,610 are active cases, 4,748 people have recovered, and 718 people have succumbed to the disease. Around 1,684 fresh cases were reported in the last 24 hours.

Maharashtra remained the worst-hit state with a total number of cases rising to 6,430, followed by Gujarat which reported 2,624 cases and Delhi which has reported 2,376 cases.

Besides the trio, other states which have crossed the 1,000 mark are Rajasthan with 1,964, Tamil Nadu with 1,683, Madhya Pradesh with 1,699 and Uttar Pradesh 1,510.

Lockdown to be stricter in five cities in TN: Palaniswami

With the risk of coronavirus spreading further in densely populated cities, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Friday ordered tightening of the lockdown in Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Salem and Madurai.

The decision was taken after Palaniswami chaired a review meeting on the coronavirus spread in the state.

In a statement issued here, Palaniswami said in Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai the lockdown will be implemented strictly between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. from April 26-29.

He said in the case of Tiruppur and Salem the lockdown will be between 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. from April 26-28.

According to him, sanitisation of containment zones will be done twice a day in the state.

'J&K emerges as good as Kerala in COVID-19 fight'

Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Friday said that the newly formed Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Union Territory (UT) has emerged as good as Kerala state in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Complementing the medical fraternity of the UT, the Minister said that Junior Resident doctors and medical officers played a major role in the fight as they directly dealt with patients for effectively fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

"India has emerged as one of the frontline nations of the world to combat COVID-19 and J&K has emerged as good as Kerala state in fighting the pandemic," Singh said.

He said that the government was very concerned for the safety of the medical and healthcare workers for which it implemented an ordinance for their protection.

On the UTs request for augmenting the availability of standardised Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits and other equipment, the Minister said that the J&K will be getting regular supply of PPE and testing kits for the coronavirus.

100 new cases in MP on 30th day of lockdown

Madhya Pradesh recorded 100 fresh cases with Bhopal, Indore and three other western districts accounting for 90 of them on Thursday.

The figure of fresh cases jumped from Wednesday's 1587 to 1699 on Friday. Bhopal's corona positive cases include an eight-month-old child.

Indore reported 22 new cases, Bhopal (20), Ujjain (35), Khargone (10), Khandwa (3) recorded 90 of the 100 cases and Jabalpur (4), Sagar (3), Dewas (1), Gwalior (1) and one case of a person from Maharashtra was found in Burhanpur.

Tripura becomes the third coronavirus-free state

Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Thursday said the state has become coronavirus- free after its second COVID-19 patient tested negative.

Tripura's first COVID-19 patient, a woman from Udaipur town in Gomati district, who returned from Guwahati right before lockdown, had tested positive for the coronavirus infection on April 6.

She recovered and was released from isolation on April 16. She was later shifted to a quarantine centre at Gomati district, approximately 50 km from here.

A Tripura State Rifles (TSR) jawan had also tested positive for COVID-19 at Damcherra in North Tripura on April 16. He was later admitted at GB Pant Hospital here, where he tested negative for the virus on Thursday.

Containment zone tally in Delhi reaches 92

The containment zone tally in the national capital on Thursday reached 92 with two new red zones added in the list.

The new red zones are in the South and Shahdara districts.

While house number 15 to 101 in Dayanand Vihar has been sealed in Shahdara, in the South district, the entire affected area of Samshi Talab in Mehrauli, including the area around A-3, Lake View Apartments has been sealed.

Odisha to conduct 3,000 corona tests daily by April end: Minister

The Odisha government on Thursday set a target of conducting at least 3,000 coronavirus tests daily by April end, a minister said.

Though the state is currently conducting 2,000 tests every day, arrangements are being made to set up testing labs in four new state-run medical colleges at Bolangir, Balasore, Baripada and Koraput," Panchayati Raj Minister Pratap Jena said after a meeting of the group of ministers (GOP).

This apart, COVID-19 testing will also be conducted at the Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) in Bhubaneswar. "It has also been decided to increase the testing capacity of the laboratory at the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar, from 200 to 450 per day," the minister added.

A whopping 2,209 RT-PCR tests were conducted in the last 24 hours in the state taking the tally of cumulative tests to 15,984, an official at the health and family welfare department said.

27 more test positive for COVID-19 in Bihar; total cases 170

Bihar saw the sharpest ever jump in the number of coronavirus cases on Thursday as 27 more people tested positive for the infection, taking the state's tally to 170, a top official said.

Of the fresh cases, eight each were from Patna and Kaimur districts, six from Sasaram, four from Munger and one from Siwan, Principal Secretary, Health, Sanjay Kumar said.

The eight fresh cases in Patna were reported from the state capital's Khajpura locality. These include a 35-year-old man, two girls aged 8 and 14 and five women aged between 23 and 57.

Khajpura, which has emerged as a veritable hotspot, had earlier also reported eight cases, the infection chain starting off with a 32-year-old woman admitted to AIIMS, Patna for breathing trouble but with no travel history.

So far, Kaimur had not reported any COVID-19 cases. All the eight cases in the district were reported from Chainpur area. The patients -- five males and three females -- caught the infection from a person who had tested positive for coronavirus earlier, Kumar said.

Meghalaya relaxes lockdown norms, allows some activities from Friday

The Meghalaya government on Thursday issued a notification allowing the opening of shops and services dealing in essential items and resumption of the functioning of several self-employed persons and industrial units from Friday. However, the lockdown will continue to be imposed.

Meghalaya Chief Secretary MS Rao issued a notification saying shops, courier services, e-commerce platforms dealing in essential services and common service centres are permitted to open in the state with effect from Friday. However, the state capital and Mylliem block of East Khasi Hills district are exempted from this relaxation.

Services provided by self-employed persons such as electricians, plumbers, motor mechanics, and carpenters and shops for the repair of trucks on highways, hardware stores selling construction materials including transportation of the same and electrical shops are also allowed to operate, Rao said in a notification.

Delhi govt hospital sealed after 14 staffers test COVID positive

The Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital in north Delhi has been sealed after 14 staff members tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday, officials said.

"The hospital has been sealed after 14 staff, including senior and junior residents, have tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday," an official told IANS.

The 100-bedded multispeciality district hospital is situated in E-block, Jahangirpuri, in the North-West district.

Here are the latest number of cases across states as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare website.


Note: The ministry says, *states wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation. The data was last updated on 24 April 2020, 08:00 GMT+5:30
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