Coronavirus India Updates: Process of return of Indians stranded abroad will begin from May 7, says MHA

Coronavirus (Covid-19) Tracker India updates: Stating that the government will facilitate the return of Indians stranded abroad on compelling grounds, the Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday said the process will start from May 7 in a phased manner. As India entered the second extension of lockdown with considerable relaxations in orange and green zones, the total number of Covid-19 cases jumped to 42,835 and toll to 1,389 with 2,553 new infections. In the last 24 hours, a record 1,074 recoveries were reported taking the total number of cured patients to 11,761 and the recovery rate to 27.52%.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday said that the party's State Congress Committees will bear the ticket expense of the train journey of migrant workers who are being sent back to their homes by various states. "This will be the Indian National Congress' humble contribution in service of our compatriots and to stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with them," her letter read. Sonia's letter comes a day after the railways ordered the states to collect train ticket cost from the migrants. In its guidelines published Saturday, Railways said it would hand over the tickets to the originating states and the state would "collect the ticket fare" and hand them over to Railways.

Global coronavirus cases surpassed 3.5 million on Monday, with deaths nearing a quarter of a million, although the rate of fatalities and new cases has slowed from peaks reached last month.

(Inputs from theindianexpess.com)