Coronavirus Cases: 1,000 positive cases of COVID-19 have been reported in last 24 hours
The number of people infected with the novel coronavirus in India has climbed to 13,387, with 1,000 positive cases reported in the last 24 hours. The highly infectious COVID-19 has killed 437 in the country, government data shows. The recovery rate that indicates the number of people who have successfully fought off the disease stood at 13.06 per cent on Friday, an improvement over Thursday's 12.02 per cent, Wednesday's 11.41 per cent and Tuesday's 9.99 per cent. In the last 24 hours, 260 patients were declared cured from COVID-19 and discharged from hospitals - the biggest number of recovery so far in India. On Thursday, 183 were discharged from hospitals after they recovered.
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An internal government assessment suggests that India may touch its peak of coronavirus cases in the first week of May, after which the number will decline, sources in the Home Ministry have said.
"The next one week is crucial. India is going to ramp up its testing. All those who have symptoms related to Severe Acute Respiratory Infection will be tested," a senior bureaucrat told NDTV.
The government has made new additions to the list of activities that will be allowed amid lockdown in parts of the country that are least affected by coronavirus. Non-banking finance corporations and micro-finance institutions will be marked essential services that can resume. Coconut, spice bamboo, areca nut and cocoa plantations, and forest produce by scheduled tribes have also been added to the list.
Construction in rural areas of water supply and sanitation and laying of power lines and telecom optical fibres and cables will also be allowed, according to a notification put out by the Home Ministry.
After continuing a strict lockdown till April 20, the districts that are not virus hotspots will be allowed to resume some industrial, construction and manufacturing activities as the government attempts to restart the economy and move towards a gradual exit from the nationwide shutdown to prevent the infection from spreading rapidly.
Rajasthan, Punjab and Bihar, which were the first few states to announce lockdowns, have managed to avoid sharp jumps in positive cases compared to states that went for partial curbs at first like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
Rajasthan has 1,131 infected patients and 164 recoveries. According to data collected by the Home Ministry, the state has 7,448 people in isolation as of Thursday.
Though Delhi added 424 cases between Tuesday and Wednesday, the number of people in quarantine came down 15,327 to 14,504. Officials who are crunching the numbers say that states like Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are the big cause of worry.
Attacks on health officials have peaked in Bihar, with four cases being reported across the state within 24 hours. Two of them took place in Bihar Sharif, the hometown of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
On Wednesday, a team of doctors and other medical staff were attacked in Moradabad, located in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, when they went to take primary contacts of a COVID 19 patient who died, to a quarantine facility.
