The death toll due to the novel coronavirus rose to 1,152 with 77 fatalities reported since Thursday evening, while the number of cases saw a record jump of 1,755 to go up to 35,365 cases on Friday, according to the Union health ministry.

The number of active Covid-19 cases stood at 25,148 while 9,064 people have recovered, and one patient has migrated, the ministry said.

'Thus, around 25.63 per cent patients have recovered so far,' a health ministry official said.

The total number of cases include 111 foreign nationals.

A total of 77 deaths were reported since Thursday evening of which 27 fatalities were reported from Maharashtra, 17 from Gujarat, 11 from West Bengal, seven each from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, three from Delhi, two from Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and one from Karnataka.

Of the 1,152 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 459 fatalities, followed by Gujarat at 214, Madhya Pradesh at 137, Delhi at 59, Rajasthan at 58, Uttar Pradesh at 41 and West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh at 33 each.

The death toll reached 27 in Tamil Nadu, 26 in Telangana, while Karantaka has reported 22 deaths.

Punjab has registered 19 fatalities so far. The disease has claimed eight lives in Jammu and Kashmir, four in Kerala while Jharkhand and Haryana have recorded three Covid-19 deaths each.

Bihar has reported two deaths, while Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Assam have reported one fatality each, according to ministry data.

According to the ministry's data updated in the evening, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 10,498 followed by Gujarat at 4,395, Delhi at 3,515, Madhya Pradesh at 2,719, Rajasthan at 2,584, Tamil Nadu at 2,323 and Uttar Pradesh at 2,281.

• Andaman & Nicobar 33
• Andhra Pradesh 1463
• Arunachal Pradesh 1
• Assam 42
• Bihar 450
• Chandigarh 88
• Chhattisgarh 40
• Delhi 3515
• Goa 7
• Gujarat 4395
• Haryana 347
• Himachal Pradesh 41
• Jammu & Kashmir 639
• Jharkhand 110
• Karnataka 589
• Kerala 497
• Ladakh 22
• Madhya Pradesh 2625
• Maharashtra 10498
• Manipur 2
• Meghalaya 12
• Mizoram 1
• Odisha 148
• Puducherry 10
• Punjab 585
• Rajasthan 2642
• Tamil Nadu 2526
• Telangana 1038
• Tripura 3
• Uttarakhand 57
• Uttar Pradesh 2281
• West Bengal 744

'Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR,' the ministry said on its website adding, ' 393 cases are being assigned to states for contact tracing.' States wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said

Goa residents will get free quarantine: CM

Residents of Goa, who are currently stranded in different parts of the country due to the lockdown, will be quarantined for free by the government once they return to the state, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has announced.

He made the announcement through a tweet posted on Thursday.

'I wish to inform that all Goans who are currently stranded in various parts of the country would be quarantined at Govt facility without any fees/charges upon their arrival in Goa. Further, they would be shifted to home quarantine as soon as their #COVID19 test proves negative,' Sawant said on the micro-blogging site.

As per the guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Goa government has already begun the process of bringing back the people from the state, who are stranded in parts of the country.

J&K students in MP return home

A large number of Kashmiri students stranded in parts of Madhya Pradesh due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown have been waiting for their safe return to the native places.

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh recently wrote a letter to Union home minister Amit Shah, requesting him to make necessary arrangements for the nearly 400 Kashmiri students stuck in Madhya Pradesh.

Singh said that as Jammu and Kashmir is under the central rule, it is the Centre's duty to help the people from that region stranded in different parts of the country.

An assistant professor at a private college in Indore, Javid Ahmad Mir, is running a campaign for the return of the students from Jammu and Kashmir.

'In Indore alone, nearly 55 students from Jammu and Kashmir have been stranded since over a month due to the lockdown,' Mir told PTI.

Apart from college students and PhD scholars, an 80- year-old woman from Kashmir is also stuck in Indore, he said.

In his letter, Digvijaya Singh said that 32 students from Jammu and Kashmir are stranded in Bhopal and 17 others in Gwalior. He said they should be taken back to Jammu and Kashmir and quarantined as per the protocol.

Police personnel check the documents of stranded migrants after the government allowed people to travel to their respective destinations with certain conditions during the nationwide lockdown, at a police post in New Delhi, Thursday, April 30, 2020. PTI

Chautala, 100 scribes test negative in Haryana

Haryana's deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala and more than 100 journalists have tested negative for Covid-19, state's health minister Anil Vij said on Friday.

Although he did not have any symptoms of coronavirus, Chautala had on Wednesday got himself tested for coronavirus to allay fears among the public surrounding the test.

Chautala, and all the journalists which included reporters, photo and video journalists from the print and electronic media, have tested negative, Vij informed.

After some journalists in Maharashtra and Delhi were found to be infected with coronavirus, Vij had arranged special testing for journalists in Chandigarh on Wednesday.

Journalists are also at the frontline in the battle against COVID-19, Vij had said.

Delhi, Calcutta, Mumbai among 134 red zones listed by Centre

As the second phase of lockdown nears its end, the Union health ministry has listed 130 districts across the country in the red zone, 284 in orange zone and 319 in green zones based on incidence of cases of Covid-19, doubling rate, extent of testing and surveillance feedback.

This classification of districts is to be followed by states and UTs for a week post May 3 for containment operations.

Metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Pune, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad have been designated as red zones in the new classification.

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Tamil Nadu govt receives over Rs 300 cr for Covid-19 battle

The Tamil Nadu government on Friday said it has received over Rs 300 crore in cash and kind towards its battle against coronavirus.

Government employees, corporate entities, individuals, philanthropic organisations and others have contributed Rs 306.42 crore for this purpose to the CM's Public Relief Fund so far, since Chief Minister K Palaniswami made an appeal on March 27, an official release said.

This included a sum of Rs 110 crore donated by the state government employees, equivalent of their one day's wages and a month's salary of AIADMK MLAs, numbering 124, it said.

Lockdown restrictions in Maharashtra to be lifted zone-wise: Uddhav

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said that the coronavirus-induced lockdown restrictions will be lifted in the state in a zone-wise manner and the rules will be relaxed cautiously.

In a live webcast, he said the lockdown rules will not be relaxed in haste.

'We will tread cautiously. It is in nobody's Interest to lift the lockdown in the (Covid-19) red zones like Mumbai, Pune region, Nagpur and Aurangabad where the number of positive cases is on the rise,' he said.

Thackeray said that in orange zones, even though there are no new positive cases, some active cases do exist, while in green zones there are no cases.

Andhra govt announces measures to boost MSMEs

The Andhra Pradesh government announced a slew of measures, including clearing 50 per cent of all pending industrial incentives of Rs 904 crore in the current month itself and waiving fixed electricity charges for three months, on Friday to ensure that the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the state reopen during the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.

The state government has also decided to provide working capital loans to MSMEs at lower interest rates. A fund to the tune of Rs 200 crore would be created to lend loans between Rs 2-10 lakh, it said in a statement.

The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government in the southern state is working on a specific plan with the relevant departments and guidelines will be issued soon, it added.

The government said disbursement of pending incentives would inject cash into the system as the economic impact of the spread of Covid-19 and the consequential nationwide lockdown have harmed the financial capability of a lot of MSMEs, especially the micro and small industries.

A man wearing a mask to protect himself from coronavirus stands outside a shop that displays a sign 'No Mask, No Entry' during a relaxation in curfew imposed to check the spread of the virus in Dharmsala, Friday, May 1, 2020. AP

Work from home, leave for BMC staff above 55

The civic body in Mumbai has asked its staff above the age of 55 years to work from home or abstain from field duties, while those with comorbidities have been given leave for two weeks in view of the coronavirus outbreak, officials said on Friday.

This includes emergency staff like doctors, nurses and paramedics, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation official said.

'Emergency staff above the age of 55 with cormorbidities like hypertension, diabetes, heart and kidney ailments among others have been asked to stay at home for two weeks,' said a BMC spokesperson.

However, attendance is absolutely compulsory for all other staff employed in office and on field assignments, officials added.

PM Modi meets Home Minister, Finance Minister, and Rail Minister to discuss post lockdown strategy

Ahead of the scheduled end of the extended nationwide lockdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday met key ministers including Home Minister Amit Shah and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman apparently to discuss an exit strategy.

While there was no official word on the meeting, sources said the Prime Minister has been holding discussions during the last few days on various post-lockdown aspects.

Railway and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal was also present at the meeting held on Friday morning.

Modi had on Thursday held a series of meetings to discuss strategies to attract foreign investment, promote local manufacturing, and boost the economy that has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdown imposed to curb its spread.

He had reviewed the state of investments, the defence and aerospace sector, and the mine and minerals sector.

The government had first imposed a 21-day nationwide lockdown beginning March 25 and later extended it till May 3. The lockdown shut businesses, stopped air and rail travel and restricted movement of people and goods.

The near-complete halt in economic activity may result in the country seeing a contraction in GDP growth in the April-June quarter, some analysts have predicted.

In late March, the government had announced a Rs 1.7 lakh crore stimulus package comprising free foodgrains and cooking gas to poor and cash doles to poor women and elderly.

A second package, aimed at industries particularly small and medium enterprises that have been hit hard by the lockdown, is said to be in works and is likely to be announced shortly.

Centre orders 2.22 cr PPE; 1.43 cr to be made by domestic manufacturers

In a boost for indigenous production of Covid-19 protective gear, the Centre on Friday said it has ordered 2.22 crore personal protection equipment (PPE) of which 1.43 crore will be made by domestic manufacturers.

Addressing a press briefing on the Covid-19 situation in the country, P D Vaghela, Chairman of the Empowered Group-3, said about 19,398 ventilators are available in India and orders have been placed for 60,884 more, and of these 59,884 will be made by domestic manufacturers.

He said of the total 2.49 crore N-95/N-99 masks ordered, 1.49 crore of these masks have been ordered from domestic manufacturers.

On production of drugs and other medical equipment, he said 'HCQ (hydroxychloroquine) production has increased from 12.23 crore to 30 crore per month'.

'Over 4 lakh oxygen cylinders are available; sufficient for today's requirements. Orders for more than 1 lakh oxygen cylinders have been placed and industrial oxygen is being converted into medical oxygen,' he said.

Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said 1,993 new cases of Covid-19 were reported in the last 24 hours in the country and the total number of cases has increased to 35,043.

He said, '8,888 Covid-19 patients, which is 25.37 per cent of total cases, have recovered so far.

Medics wearing protective suits are seen at a hospital during the nationwide lockdown imposed in wake of the coronavirus pandemic, in Bengaluru, Friday, May 1, 2020. PTI

Wearing of facial mask compulsory in public, work spaces in Bengaluru

Wearing of facial mask in public and work spaces has been made compulsory in the city with violations to attract penalty of Rs 1,000 for first time as part of measures to fight Covid-19.

Spitting, urinating and littering in public places have also been banned and such acts will be considered as public offence in the Karnataka capital, according to an order issued by the city civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

'Wearing of facial mask to cover mouth and nose is compulsory in public places and in any working space with more than five people,' the order issued by BBMP Commissioner B H Anil Kumar on Thursday said.

Facial masks and gloves used by any of the households (HHs) and commercial establishments (CEs) should be properly handed over to waste collectors in covers or closed bags as part of sanitary (reject) waste, it said.

Violations of these directions will attract a penalty of Rs 1,000 first time and Rs 2,000 on second and subsequent violations.

The order has come into effect from Thursday mid-night and will continue to remain in force until further orders.

Newspaper industry could face losses of up to Rs 15,000 crore if relief not provided: INS to govt

The Indian Newspaper Society (INS) has urged the government to provide a strong stimulus package to the newspaper industry which it said has lost over Rs 4,000 crore and is likely to suffer further losses of up to Rs 15,000 crore in the next six to seven months, if relief is not provided.

In a letter to the Information and Broadcasting Secretary, the INS said the newspaper industry is among the worst affected in India with hardly any revenues coming in from either advertising or circulation amid the nationwide lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

'The newspaper industry has already lost Rs 4000-4500 crore in the last two months. Since economic activity has nearly collapsed and there is no likelihood of advertising from private sector, the losses are expected to continue at the same rate for the next 6-7 months (implying an additional loss of Rs 12,000 - 15,000 crore over the next 6-7 months) unless a strong stimulus is implemented by the government at the earliest, the letter signed by INS president Shailesh Gupta said.

INS also urged the government to withdraw five per cent customs duty on newsprint.

The losses already incurred have had very severe repercussions for the 30 lakh workers and staff who are directly and indirectly involved in the newspaper industry -- journalists, printers, delivery vendors and many others, said INS, which represents over 800 newspapers.

According to INS estimates, newspapers provide direct and indirect employment to almost nine to 10 lakh people and over 18-20 lakh people respectively.

INS also urged the government to provide two year tax holiday for newspaper establishments, 50 per cent increase in advertisement rate of Bureau of Outreach and Communication and 100 per cent increase in budget spend for print media.

It called for immediate settlement of payment towards all outstanding bills of advertising, from BOC (Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity) as well as various state governments.

Covid-19 suspects placed at a quarantine centre to prevent the spread of the pandemic, in Mumbai, Thursday, April 30, 2020. PTI

Lockdown extension by 10-20 days after May 3: Indore official

The coronavirus-induced lockdown in Indore, Madhya Pradesh's commercial capital and most worrying hotspot, will be extended for 10-20 days after the second phase ends as scheduled on May 3, district collector Manish Singh said on Friday.

Indore has 1,513 Covid-19 cases, including 72 people who have died of the infection, and 250 who have been discharged after recovery.

Speaking to PTI, Singh said. 'We held a detailed discussion with medical experts, public representatives and others in view of the current Covid-19 situation. And we have decided that the lockdown will be extended in the district for another 10 to 20 days after May 3.'

Chhattisgarh won't open borders till Covid-19 situation normalises: CM Baghel

With the second spell of the nationwide lockdown scheduled to end on May 3, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel Friday said the state's boundaries will not be opened up till the Covid-19 pandemic situation normalises.

Indicating continued restrictions in the Congress-ruled state, he said he preferred gradual relaxation of lockdown norms and state governments should be given the right to decide which districts to open depending on the local disease burden and containment efforts.

'The state boundaries will remain shut even after May 3. Chhattisgarh will not open its borders till the Covid-19 situation improves and normalises,' Baghel told PTI in an interview.

'After all, state governments also have responsibilities towards their people. They have been elected by the people,' he said.

Another Congress-ruled state of Punjab has already announced continuation of the lockdown for two more weeks beyond May 3.

Baghel, however, said goods carriers will be allowed to operate along inter-state routes to ensure a smooth supply chain.

On the issue of stranded migrants, the Chhattisgarh chief minister said the Centre must run point-to-point trains to bring the labourers back home as it is difficult to deploy buses to ferry all of them from long distances.

He said the state has 1.5 to 2 lakh migrant labourers stranded across different states and they cannot be brought back through buses alone.

'The central government should deploy sanitised point-to-point trains for their safe return,' he said.

A man pushes a handcart selling vegetables in Prayagraj, India, Thursday, April 30, 2020. PTI

Nearly 1,700 students return to Bengal from Kota

Nearly 1,700 students returned to West Bengal on Friday from Rajasthan's Kota -- the coaching hub for engineering and medical aspirants -- and have been put up at different camps for health check-ups, an official said.

According to TMC leader and Asansol Mayor Jitendra Tiwari, the students, following their arrival in the town, were provided refreshments and taken to health camps, where they would have to undergo precautionary medical check-up.

'The buses carrying students (from Kota) are coming to Asansol. The students are then being taken to health camps for check-up. We have arranged for 135 buses, which would ferry the students to their respective homes, following completion of necessary formalities,' Tiwari told PTI over the phone.

At least 800 more would be returning to Bengal from Rajasthan by the end of the day, the TMC leader said.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday had said that the process to bring back students stuck in Kota had been initiated and they would soon start journey back home.

Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said the state has undertaken a massive exercise to bring the students home.

'We have reached out to every student in need of help and solved their problems in real time. Our resolve has triumphed over West Bengal BJP's sinister attempts at stoking controversy,' Chatterjee said.