Coronavirus India LIVE Updates: Cases in India cross 35,000, biggest spike in 24 hours

Coronavirus in India LIVE Updates: The Covid-19 tally in India increased to 35,043 on Friday with as many as 1,147 fatalities after 1,433 cases were reported since Thursday evening, the Ministry of Health Affairs announced. On Thursday, Maharashtra and Gujarat registered the maximum number of cases, with the former crossing the 10,000-mark.

Ahead of May 3, when the lockdown is scheduled to end, Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan has asked state chief secretaries to "broadbase" the criteria for red, orange and green zones, and designate areas according to their assessment. As the pandemic and the prolonged lockdown batter all sectors of the economy, the government, sources said, is working on a rescue package that, for now, may address the needs of the micro, small and medium enterprise segment rather than the larger corporate sector.

Meanwhile, on the global front, the novel coronavirus has so far claimed at least 2,33,388 lives and infected at least 3.2 million people worldwide ever since its outbreak at the beginning of this year, according to a tally by John Hopkins University. The United States continues to be the worst-hit, with over 10,69,424 cases and over 61,547 deaths. The worst-affected countries in the world after the US in terms of infections are Spain (2,13,435), Italy (2,05,463), United Kingdom (1,72,481) and France (1,67,299)

(input and image from theindianexpress.com)