The death toll due to novel coronavirus rose to 353 with 29 fatalities reported since Monday evening, while the number of cases saw a record jump of 1,463 to go up to 10,815 cases on Tuesday, according to the Union Health Ministry.
The number of active Covid-19 cases stands at 9,272 and as many as 1,189 people have been cured and discharged, and one has migrated, it said.
The total number of cases include 76 foreign nationals.
Twenty-nine deaths have been reported since Monday evening, of which 11 deaths were reported from Maharashtra, seven from Madhya Pradesh, four from Delhi, three from Karnataka, two from Andhra Pradesh and one each from Punjab and Telengana.
Of the total 353 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 160 fatalities, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 50, Delhi at 28, Gujarat at 26 and Telengana at 17. Punjab has reported 12 deaths, Tamil Nadu 11 while Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have reported nine deaths each.
West Bengal has reported seven deaths while five people have lost their lives in Uttar Pradesh.
Jammu and Kashmir has reported four fatalities each while Kerala, Haryana and Rajasthan have recorded three deaths each.
Jharkhand has reported two deaths.
Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Assam have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry's data.
However, a PTI tally of figures reported by various states as on Tuesday evening showed at least 10,986 cases and 365 deaths.
There has been a lag in the Union Health Ministry figures, compared to the number of deaths announced by different states, which officials attribute to procedural delays in assigning the cases to individual states.
According to the ministry's data updated in the evening, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 2,337 followed by Delhi at 1,510 and Tamil Nadu at 1,173.
Covid-19 cases have gone up to 879 in Rajasthan followed by 730 in Madhya Pradesh, 657 in Uttar Pradesh and 624 in Telengana.
Gujarat has 617 cases, followed by Andhra Pradesh at 473 and Kerala at 379.
The number of novel coronavirus cases has risen to 270 in Jammu and Kashmir, 258 in Karnataka, 199 in Haryana and 190 in West Bengal. Punjab has reported 176 infections so far.
Bihar has reported 66 cases, while Odisha has 55 coronavirus cases. Thirty-five people were infected with the virus in Uttarakhand, while Himachal Pradesh has 32 cases followed by Assam and Chhattisgarh with 31 cases each.
Jharkhand has 24 cases, Chandigarh has 21 cases and Ladakh has 15, while 11 cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Goa and Puducherry have reported seven Covid-19 infections each, Manipur and Tripura have two cases each, while Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya have reported a case each.
'State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation,' the ministry said on its website.
Divergence in testing pattern
Maharashtra on Monday had 1,619 patients in hospital, while Delhi had 1,154 and Tamil Nadu 982. The number of coronavirus-affected districts increased from 284 on April 6 to 354 on April 12 but health experts said this increase was likely the result of expanded testing.
“Testing more people increases the numbers but also helps identify cases and isolate them to prevent further spread of the infection,” said Oommen John, a public health specialist with The George Institute for Global Health, New Delhi.
But the health ministry’s figures reveal a great divergence in testing patterns. Delhi has so far tested 840 people per million, the highest in the country, while Bengal lags all the states with less than 50 tested per million, according to data from the National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai.
Health experts anticipate that the numbers of new cases will continue rising in all the states as they have done over the past three weeks even if the government extends the nationwide lockdown.
However, any easing of restrictions and any movements of people will likely increase the risk of transmission of the virus, the experts said.
The proportion of deaths among the confirmed Covid-19 patients also shows significant differences across states -– 7.5 per cent in Maharashtra, 4.8 per cent in Gujarat, 4.6 per cent in Bengal, 2 per cent in Delhi, 1 per cent in Tamil Nadu, and 0.5 per cent in Kerala.
Public health experts have cautioned that although such differences could result from early diagnosis and appropriate clinical management, this will not be clear without ascertaining the age-distribution of the patients across these states and what proportions of patients in each state had underlying illnesses, which increases the risk of severe Covid-19 illness.
A health ministry official said 25 districts across 15 states that had earlier reported Covid-19 cases had had no new infections for the past 14 days. These include Gondia (Maharashtra), Durg, Bilaspur and Rajnandgaon (Chhattisgarh), Davangere, Kodagu, Tumkur and Udipi (Karanataka), Wayanad and Kottayam (Kerala), Panipat, Rohtak and Sirsa (Haryana), Pratapgarh (Rajasthan) and Patna, Munger and Nalanda (Bihar).
Most, although not all, of these districts had only isolated cases of the infection which, public health experts believe, would have made it easier to contain the virus -– through contact tracing and the testing of any contacts with symptoms.
Harvesting, sowing activities, highway 'dhabas' likely to be exempted
Agriculture, fishing activities and pharma industry are likely to get relaxation during the extended period of lockdown, while curbs in 370 districts out of around 720 will continue with total halt on inter-district movement of people, officials said on Tuesday.
Highway 'dhabas' (eateries), truck repairing shops and construction works with local labourers are also expected to be allowed to function in the districts where there has been no case of COVID-19.
Prime Minster Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced the extension of the lockdown, imposed initially for 21 days from March 25 to check the spread of coronavirus, till May 3. The likely exemptions will come into effect from April 20 in a phased manner.
The Union Home Ministry officials are busy framing the guidelines which will carry the broad parameters for the implementation of the extended lockdown and exemptions to be given during the period.
Harvesting and sowing activities will be allowed with strict social distancing norms, a home ministry official told PTI.
Pharma industries, fishing activities, highway 'dhaba' (roadside eateries), truck repairing shops will also be allowed during the lockdown, the official said.
While a number of states, including Assam and Meghalaya, have already allowed opening of liquor shops, the guidelines are likely to allow the state governments to frame their own excise policy.
Members of Sakhi Mandal stitch face masks during a nationwide lockdown imposed in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, at Jharkhand Rural Development Department Training Center in Ranchi, Friday, April 10, 2020. PTI
Railways extends suspension of passenger services till May 3
The Indian Railways has extended the suspension of its passenger services till May 3, senior officials said on Tuesday.
They said the decision was taken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the lockdown across the country will be extended till May 3 to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
'We have taken the decision keeping in view the extended lockdown period. More updates will be available shortly,' the official said.
Earlier, all passenger services were cancelled till April 14 midnight.
India's largest Covid-19 hospital in Ahmedabad
With Ahmedabad alone accounting for 346 of the total 617 coronavirus positive cases in Gujarat, the city civic body has readied the country's largest Covid-19 care centre with a capacity to accommodate 2,000 patients who are not suffering from any underlying health issues.
The facility, created in a hostel complex near the Gujarat University Complex, will ease the load of Covid-19 patients on government hospitals, officials said on Tuesday.
The care centre is also equipped with a library, and a Yoga and indoor game facility for patients.
'We can accommodate 2,000 patients in this facility, which is the first and the largest Covid care centre in the country,' said Ahmedabad Municipal commissioner Vijay Nehra.
He said each patient to be admitted at the care centre will be provided with a bed and a separate kit containing essential items like a soap, a toothbrush and a bucket.
Besides, medical teams will examine the patients twice in a day and the personnel will remain stationed in the building with an objective to prevent the spread of the viral infection, he said.
'Medical teams will also be tested every 14 days for the infection,' Nehra said.
13 patients disharged in Jammu and Kashmir
Doctors on Tuesday discharged 13 Covid-19 patients from a hospital in Srinagar following their successful recovery, officials said.
'More Positive Developments: 13 more COVID +Ve patients discharged from CD (Chest Diseases) Hospital Srinagar after treatment/recovery. Good Job everyone,' government spokesman Rohit Kansal said in a tweet.
Leading pulmonologist of Kashmir Dr Naveed Shah, who is heading the Covid team at Chest Disease Hospital, said while it was a satisfying moment, there should be no lowering of the guard.
'A satisfactory moment... relieved 13 covid patients for home quarantine... not to lower our guard....stay home .. stay safe.. maintain social distance..obey advisories. Together v can overcome all challenges,' he tweeted.
Two minor sisters, who had contracted the infection from their grandfather, were released for home quarantine in Monday.
A view of the wholesale vegetable market at Narwal during the nationwide lockdown imposed in wake of coronavirus pandemic, in Jammu, Tuesday, April 14, 2020 PTI
Vijayapura man dies in Karnataka
A 69-year-old man from Vijayapura became the ninth Covid-19 related fatality in Karnataka, where 11 new cases of the virus were confirmed, taking the total number of infections in the state to 258, the health department said on Tuesday.
The deceased was the husband of a patient who tested positive earlier. He expired at a designated hospital in Vijayapura, the department said in a midday situation update.
Two patients, a 55- year-old man from Kalaburagi and a 65-year-old man from Bengaluru urban had passed away last night.
Eleven new positive cases have been reported in the state from Monday evening to this noon, including the person who died in Vijayapura.
Till date 258 Covid-19 positive cases have been confirmed.
This includes 9 deaths and 65 discharges, the department said.
Maharashtra cases rise to 2,455
The number of coronavirus cases in Maharashtra rose to 2,455 after 121 more people tested positive for the disease on Tuesday, a health official said.
Among the new cases, 92 were reported from Mumbai, 13 from Navi Mumbai, 10 from Thane city, five from Vasai-Virar (in Palghar district) and one from Raigad, he said.
Maharashtra has so far reported 160 deaths due to coronavirus.
Maharashtra evaluating how to resume industrial production
Maharashtra industries minister Subhash Desai has asked his department to draft a proposal on how to restart industrial production in districts where no coronavirus cases have been found.
But, there would be no permission for any industrial or business activity in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Pune, which have been categorised as red zones due to a large number of coronavirus cases, he said.
'I have asked my department to come up with a proposal on how to start industrial production from districts excluding Mumbai and Pune,' Desai tweeted late Monday evening.
'One key demand we will be making before the Centre is extending bank loans for next couple of months so that small and medium scale industries could pay salaries to its employees,' he added.
The country's financial capital now alone accounts for over 1,540 Covid-19 cases and 101 deaths, an official earlier said.
UP cases touch 657
As many as 657 people have tested positive so far for coronavirus, which has claimed five lives in Uttar Pradesh till now, a state health department official said on Tuesday.
Joint director-cum-state surveillance officer Vikasendu Agrawal of the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) on Tuesday said, 'A total of 657 corona-positive cases have been reported from the state. Till now, the state has reported five deaths -- one each in Basti, Meerut, Bulandshahr, Varnasi and Agra.'
On Monday, 75 persons tested positive for coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh, taking the total in the state to 558.
Additional chief secretary (information) Awanish Awasthi said 80 to 85 per cent of the cases have been reported from identified hotspots.
'The total positive cases in the state are 558. So far, 49 patients have fully recovered and discharged,' principal secretary (health) Amit Mohan Prasad told reporters on Monday.
Of the 49 cured and discharged patients, 13 were in Noida, 10 in Agra, nine in Meerut, seven in Ghaziabad, six in Lucknow and one each in Kanpur, Shamli, Pilibhit and Lakhimpur Kheri, an official statement issued here said.
