Coronavirus: 549 cases, 17 deaths in 24 hrs

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Tracker Live Updates: With the number of novel coronavirus cases in India nearing 5900-mark, including 169 deaths, the central government Thursday approved a COVID-19 emergency package worth Rs 15000 crore for states. A total of 549 COVID-19 cases and 17 deaths have been reported in India in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said in its latest briefing on the 16th day of the nationwide lockdown. India has so far tested 1,30,000 samples.

Earlier today, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the first clear signal that some restrictions are likely to continue after the 21-day lockdown period, Odisha became the first state to extend the lockdown till April 30 on Thursday. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also announced that schools in the state will remain closed till June 17 and said he will suggest the Central government to extend the nationwide lockdown till the same period.

On the international front, as many as 88,538 people have died and over 1.5 million positive cases have been reported so far. The United States recorded nearly 2,000 novel coronavirus deaths for the second day in a row, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. With this, America is now at 431,838 infections followed by Spain (148,220), Italy (139,422), France (113,982), Germany (113,296 ) and China (82,809).

(Inputs and image from theindianexpress.com)