Death toll crosses 1000, over 31000 cases recorded in India

Srinagar: The number of people who died of coronavirus in India has crossed 1000 even as the country reported 73 deaths in the last 24 hours, the biggest jump in the number of deaths in a day.

1,007 people have died of COVID-19  and 31,332 cases have been reported in the country so far, according to the latest figures from the Union Health Ministry. The states have recorded over 1,897 cases in last 24 hours, highest number of fresh cases reported in a single day since the pandemic.

Maharashtra has reported 31 deaths followed by Gujarat (19) in last 24 hours.

At least 7,696 people have recovered from the disease so far. Kerala witnessed one of the best recovery rates in the country.

Maharashtra continued to remain the hardest-hit state. As many as 728 people tested positive in the state on Tuesday, taking the total number of coronavirus patients to 9,318. Delhi also witnessed a sharp hike in fresh cases this week. The national capital became the third state to record 3,000 coronavirus infections.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday said 80 districts in the country have not witnessed any new COVID-19 case in the last seven days, while 47 districts have not registered any fresh case in the last 14 days.

The number of cases as well as the death count have doubled in the last 10 days. The government on Tuesday said plasma therapy for coronavirus is still in an experimental stage and can even prove “life threatening” for a patient, amid a surge of hope brought in by the first successful test in Delhi.

India is currently under a nationwide lockdown till May 3 to mitigate the virus spread. The Centre relaxed lockdown norms in the least affected areas, starting from April 20. The neighbourhood shops in the residential areas were allowed to open amid the lockdown. Odisha, Meghalaya, Goa and several other states wanted the lockdown to be extended after May 3 with some additional riders to restart the economic activities in the state.