Gujarat sees surge in cases, Tamil Nadu reports 103 more recoveries

Coronavirus India Latest Updates: With India entering 24th day of the lockdown, the Union Health Ministry Friday stated that the doubling rate of Covid-19 cases in the country has reduced following the imposition of nationwide lockdown. "Before lockdown, the doubling rate of coronavirus cases was three days. Going by the number of cases in the last seven days, the doubling rate has been 6.2 days. In 19 states and Union Territories, the doubling rate is less than the national average," Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said.

As per the last update from the Ministry, the death toll in the country has increased to 452 while the number of cases neared the 14000 mark. As many as 1766 persons have recovered from the virus. Maharashtra continued to remain the worst affected state with 194 deaths so far. In terms of deaths, Madhya Pradesh is the second-worst affected state with 57 fatalities, followed by Gujarat and Delhi each with 38 deaths.

There has been a lag in the Health Ministry figures, compared to the number of deaths announced by different states, which officials attribute to procedural delays in assigning the cases to individual states.

Agarwal also said that five lakh rapid antibody testing kits, which arrived from China on Thursday, are being distributed to states for districts with high burden of infection. "We are aiming to make 10 lakh kits by the month of May. We are also working on rapid antibody test kits and by next month we will be able to make 10 lakh such kits," he said.

Volunteers of 'SWACH' from Patil estate area is collecting their ration from the distribution centre at Mangalwarpeth on Friday.

When it comes to the daily number of cases, Gujarat recorded the most number of cases today with 170, followed by Madhya Pradesh (146), Telangana (66), Rajasthan (62), and Tamil Nadu (56).

In terms of recoveries, Tamil Nadu made the most today with 103 recoveries, followed by Haryana (21) and Rajasthan (19).

Kerala has managed to flatten the curve with the number of recoveries surpassing the number of active cases. At present, the southern state has only 138 active cases as opposed to 255 recoveries. Unlike other states, its death rate has been unusually low as only two people have died so far.

Here are the latest coronavirus updates from across the country today:

Gujarat declares curfew in one locality of Rajkot

With number of persons infected by COVID-19 crossing the 1,000 mark in Gujarat on Friday, the state government declared curfew in Jungleshwar area of Rajkot. This is the third district in Gujarat, after Ahmedabad and Surat where certain localities have been put under curfew even as police officers said that the the clamp down in Rajkot will be for an indefinite period and without any relaxation.

"Today afternoon, Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani held a video conference with Rajkot's police commissioner, municipal commissioner and district collector and discussed the situation related to Covid infections. It has been decided that from Friday midnight, curfew will be imposed in Rajkot's Jungleshwar locality," said Ashwini Kumar, secretary to chief minister, while addressing media persons in Gandhinagar.

RBI reduces reverse repo rate by 25 basis points to 3.75%

Keeping in mind the economic crisis that the country is facing these days, Das announced a slew of relief measures for the stressed banking and financial sector. Announcing a cut in the reverse repo rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 3.75 per cent, Das said that the central bank is monitoring situation developing out of COVID-19 outbreak. He said that banks and financial institutions have risen to occasion to ensure normal functioning during the outbreak of pandemic and also added that the IMF projection of 1.9 per cent GDP growth for India is highest in G20.

RBI announcements will 'greatly enhance liquidity': PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday said the announcements by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will "greatly enhance liquidity and improve credit supply". "Today's announcements by RBI will greatly enhance liquidity and improve credit supply. These steps would help our small businesses, MSMEs, farmers and the poor. It will also help all states by increasing WMA limits," he tweeted.

(Inputs and image from theindianexpress.com)