Coronavirus Spreads To 430 Districts, 6 Cities Account For 45% Cases

Coronavirus cases have been reported from 430 districts till Wednesday, up from 211 on April 2, government data has shown. There are six major cities which have registered over 500 cases till now, accounting for about 45 per cent of the total cases across the country.

Mumbai tops the chart with over 3,000 cases, followed by Delhi at 2,081, Ahmedabad at 1,298, Indore at 915, Pune at 660 and Jaipur 537.

While the total number of confirmed infections is rising, government health officials have said the speed of transmission is slowing thanks to the nationwide lockdown that began on March 25 and in place until at least May 3.

Six cities account for about 45 per cent of total coronavirus cases in India.

The "doubling rate" - the number of days it takes infections to multiply by two - had increased to 7.5 days, up from 3.4 days before the lockdown, Health Ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal said on Monday. "This is an extremely positive trend," he said.

Authorities have confirmed 20,471 cases of COVID-19, including 652 deaths, till Wednesday, a low tally compared with Western countries with much smaller populations, though officials say a lack of testing may mean many more cases have not been reported.

However, more than 60 percent of the cases are from just the top five states - Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.

Coronavirus cases are now reported in 430 of India's 720 districts.

Such an uneven spread allows health officials to focus their efforts on the top affected areas, or red zones, such as Delhi and Mumbai, while allowing other states to re-start activities, the government has said.

On Monday, the government allowed some factories and businesses to open in rural India as part of a staggered exit from the lockdown that has left crores out of work and short of food even though absent staff and broken supply chains scuppered the efforts.

In one of the world's toughest lockdowns, people across the country have been forbidden from stepping out of their homes except for food and medicines until May 3. Telangana has already announced an extension of the lockdown till May 7.