Coronavirus India Updates: Record rise in cases, deaths

Coronavirus India Updates: The government Tuesday suspended all existing visas granted to foreign nationals, barring a few categories, till international air travel to and from India remains shut due to the coronavirus pandemic, an order said. In a separate order, the Union Home Ministry also said it has extended on 'gratis' basis the visas of foreigners stranded in India due to the lockdown. The extension will be for a period of 30 days beyond opening of international travel in the country.

According to the latest update by the Health Ministry, the total number of cases now stand at 46,711 and the death toll jumped to 1,583. The ministry said 1,020 COVID-19 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of those cured to 13,160. As many as 3,900 new COVID-19 cases and 195 fatalities were reported in the last 24 hours, the biggest spike in a single day, the health ministry said on Tuesday and asserted that some states were not reporting cases in a timely manner, which is now being addressed.

In one of the largest evacuation exercises, named "Vande Bharat Mission", the government will operate 64 flights from May 7 to 13 to bring home nearly 14,800 Indian nationals stranded abroad due to the coronavirus lockdown. India will conduct 10 flights to the UAE, seven flights each to the US and the UK, five flights to Saudi Arabia, five flights to Singapore and two flights to Qatar to repatriate Indian nationals between May 7 and May 13, Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said.

On the global front, the number of cases has now surpassed 3.5 million with 2,51, 510 deaths, although the rate of fatalities and new cases has slowed from peaks reached last month. The Donald Trump-led United States continues to be the worst-affected with 11,66,083 cases and 67,913 deaths.

(Inputs and image from theindianexpess.com)