Coronavirus: 19,459 COVID-19 Cases In India In 24 Hours, 5.48 Lakh Total Cases So Far

Coronavirus Cases, India: More than 16,000 deaths have been reported so far.

New Delhi: India recorded more than 19,000 new coronavirus patients for a second consecutive day as the total cases crossed 5.48 lakh-mark, the Union Health Ministry said this morning. Nearly 3.2 lakh COVID-19 patients in the country have recovered since the beginning of the pandemic, the government data shows. A total of 16,475 patients have died. Of these 380 patients died in the last 24 hours. The average positivity rate - ratio of positive cases to the number of tests conducted - stood at 11.40 per cent this morning. India has registered a steady increase in positivity rate over the past one week.

Here are the top 10 developments on coronavirus cases in India:

India's biggest single-day jump in cases - 19,906 fresh infections- was registered on Sunday. The country - fourth worst-hit by the pandemic - has been reporting over 15,000 new patients every day since Wednesday. This morning, the government said 19,459 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours.
Nearly 83 lakh samples have been tested since the beginning of the pandemic in India, according to the government. On Sunday, around 1.7 lakh fresh samples were collected. India has a population of around 135 crore, according to rough estimates.
India's worst-affected state, Maharashtra has logged around 1,64,626 patients so far, around twice the number of infections registered in China (84,757) where the outbreak originated in December. On Sunday, 5,493 new cases were recorded and 153 deaths were reported in Maharashtra.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said that despite its progress in tackling COVID-19, the crisis is not over yet and urged the people of the state to follow rules and ensure the lockdown is not re-imposed.
Delhi, which has the second highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country, recorded 2,889 new infections and 65 deaths on Sunday, taking the state's tally to 83,077 cases.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday dismissed concerns of community transmission in the national capital. "Such a situation appeared because of total COVID-19 tests conducted, earlier 30 per cent turned out to be positive and that was happening because tests were done at the last moment. Now that we have started doing 20,000 tests on average, the condition is not there. There is no need to fear," he said.
With over 82,000 cases, Tamil Nadu will decide today on extending the lockdown. Chennai, the state's capital, alone has logged around 54,000 patients so far.
Hyderabad should be placed under lockdown once again to slow the spread of coronavirus, a team of medical experts have recommended and a decision will be taken in three to four days, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao said on Sunday.
A "total lockdown" for two weeks begins in Assam's Guwahati today. Only pharmacies and hospitals have been allowed to open. The situation will be reviewed on Friday, Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said last week.
Globally, coronavirus cases have crossed the 10 million-mark, over 5 lakh people have died. Coronavirus epicentre has shifted from China to Europe to the United States after it originated in China's Wuhan city in December.