India recorded 10,363 coronavirus cases and 339 deaths on Tuesday morning, as the infections doubled within a week across the country, on a day the 21-day lockdown about to end and the government expected to extend the restrictions.
The Union health ministry data at 8am showed there were 1211 new cases and 31 deaths in the last 24 hours even as 1035 people were sent home after being cured of the deadly respiratory disease across the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation on Tuesday morning at 10am and could announce an extension of the three-week nationwide lockdown, possibly with some exemptions to restart the economy.
Maharashtra, which had doubled its tally from 1000 to 2000 Covid-19 cases in six days, neared the 3000 mark. On Tuesday morning, there were 2711 people who have been infected with coronavirus in the western state.
It had recorded its biggest 24-hour jump in cases with 352 more patients on Monday. The state had recorded 11 deaths on Monday, the health department said, taking the toll to 160.
The Maharashtra government on Monday also officially extended the lockdown, which was to end at midnight on April 14, till April 30.
Delhi recorded 1568 cases so far, becoming the city with the most number of infections, and 28 fatalities. In Tamil Nadu, which is the third worst-hit state, there have been 1132 Covid-19 cases and 11 deaths to date.
According to experts, the national lockdown has slowed the spread but warned that if clusters are not contained effectively and testing is not done widely and aggressively, India could fritter away the gains of the restrictions.
The three-week lockdown ends at midnight on Tuesday and several states have urged the Centre for an extension as the infection spreads through densely packed communities, but they also want a less sweeping shutdown.
PM Modi has told chief ministers that the focus of the second phase would be not only to save lives of people from the disease but also their livelihood.
The government has, on its part, stepped up containment efforts and ramped up testing in an attempt to curb the highly contagious pathogen from sweeping across the country.
According to the Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus tracker, the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases across the world is at 1,920,618 and more than 119,660 people have died as of Tuesday morning.
