Bengal for extending lockdown

Coronavirus Live Updates: Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken about extending the nationwide lockdown till April 30 and that West Bengal is in favour of continuing the restrictions till the end of April. As many as three states—Maharashtra, Punjab and Odisha—have announced lockdown extension till April 30.

Following the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief ministers via video conferencing, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter, saying that the "PM has taken correct decision to extend lockdown". However, there has not been any official confirmation from the government on this yet. As per government sources, most states have requested the Prime Minister to extend the lockdown beyond April 14 for two more weeks. "The central government is considering this request," government sources said.

According the latest update by the Union Health Ministry, 1,035 cases and 40 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours. A day after recording the highest single-day spike in the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, the number of cases climbed to 7,529 on Saturday while the death toll stood at 242. As many as 642 persons have recovered from the disease as of yet. Maharashtra continues to remain the worst-affected state and is followed by Tamil Nadu and Delhi. (Click here to read state-wise coronavirus data)

Globally, more than 100,000 people have died from the disease, with nearly 70 per cent of fatalities in Europe, according to data by John Hopkins. With the virus still having a foothold in most countries in the world, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that premature lifting of restrictions could lead to a fatal resurgence. At least 102,800 people have died, including 70,245 in Europe, since the virus first emerged in China last December. Italy has the highest number of deaths with 18,849, followed by the United States with 17,925 and 16,081 in Spain. While the total number of infections across the world is at 1,699,490 with US reporting the highest number of cases at 501,615 followed by Spain (158,273), Italy (147,577), France (125,931) and Germany (122,171).

(Inputs and image from theindianexpress.com)