More than 500 cases of coronavirus disease were reported in India in the last 12 hours, bringing the number of Covid-19 patients to 7447 on Saturday, the Union home ministry data showed.

The country has registered 239 fatalities as of 8am on Saturday, on a day Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to hold a meeting with chief ministers of all the states to decide whether to extend the 21-day lockdown. The country-wide restrictions are to end on April 14.

In Maharashtra, the numbers of Covid-19 patients stood at 1872, according to the Union health ministry data, and there have been 110 deaths in the worst-hit state in the country.

In Tamil Nadu, there were 963 cases of the coronavirus disease with eight deaths. Delhi followed with 941 Covid-19 patients, out of which 25 have been cured and 13 have died.

There have been over 1.6 million confirmed cases globally, with the death toll topping 100,000 on Friday.

The US reported 18,600 deaths on Friday as officials warned that fatalities would likely peak this week as then decline as there was evidence that the number of new infections was flattening in New York state, the epicentre of the outbreak in the country.