51 Coronavirus Deaths In India In 24 Hours, Highest Jump Yet: 10 Points

The colour coding is likely to result in almost half the country being coloured either orange or red, after it emerged on Sunday that over 50 per cent of all districts have reported COVID-19 cases. 364 districts have been affected by the outbreak currently; this number was 284 on April 6 and 160 on March 29.

During his meeting with the Chief Ministers, PM Modi had indicated that the nationwide lockdown would be extended by two weeks but that there will be relaxations in certain areas and cases to ensure the survival of the economy as well.

States that have the most coronavirus cases are Maharashtra (1,985), Delhi (1,154), Tamil Nadu (1,075), Rajasthan (804) and Madhya Pradesh (532) ad Gujarat (516).

In Delhi, 10 new coronavirus hotspots were announced on Sunday evening, taking the total number of hotspots in the national capital to 43.

The move to resume work in ministries is in line with the centre's change in strategy to deal with the COVID-19 crisis - to one that emphasises both protection of lives and the economy. Union Ministers Prakash Javadekar, DV Sadananda Gowda, Arjun Munda and Kiren Rijiju were some of the early office-goers.

Senior officials entitled to official transports, i.e., from the rank of Joint Secretary and above, will report to work as usual from today, sources said, adding that a third of all essential staff had to be present. Junior officials will continue to work on rotation basis. Each ministry has also been told to plan for post-lockdown and come up with ideas to kick-start the economy.

More than one-third of the total number of coronavirus cases in India is linked to a religious gathering in Delhi last month, which has been identified as a hotspot for the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus.

The coronavirus pandemic and the nationwide lockdown has put a severe stress on the economy. The World Bank has predicted that India will see growth of just 1.5-2.8 per cent in its current financial year -- down from an expected 4.8-5.0 per cent for the year just ended. The International Monetary Fund, one of the world's biggest financial institutions, also warned of a global recession, and said the pandemic is causing an economic crisis unlike any in the past century and will require a massive response to ensure recovery.

The United States recorded 1,514 deaths related to the coronavirus pandemic over the past 24 hours, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. The US also leads the world by far in the number of confirmed infections, with 5,55,313 cases by the Baltimore-based university's count.

The virus which originated in central China's Wuhan last year has so far infected more than 1.5 million worldwide.