With Over 23,000 Infections And 700 Deaths, India Emerges COVID-19 Epicentre In South Asia

The coronavirus positive infections have crossed 37,000, with more than half in India alone. The staggering numbers have complicated the task of governments looking to scale back lockdown measures that have destroyed livelihoods of millions across the region.

This week, authorities sought to ease a stringent new cases on Thursday since the 40-day lockdown of the population of 1.3 billion by allowing farm and industrial activity in the least-affected rural areas. In some parts of the country, day one of relaxation looked like just another normal day, with no social distancing in place and of course, traffic jams.

On Thursday, India reported 1,684 new cases within 24 hours, taking the total tally past 23,000-mark and the death toll breaching 700.

AFP

"We have to remain focused in this fight, the effort is to stop the spread at any cost," said Satyendra Jain, the health minister of Delhi, one of country's top three virus hotspots.

"If we want to end the lockdown, we have to bring down the number of red zones."

Maharashtra tops tally

With close to 10 days to go for the Lockdown 2.0 to end, Maharashtra has emerged as the worst-affected state with 6,430 cases and 283 casualties.

Here is total coronavirus cases in India, state-wise

Andaman and Nicobar Islands - 22

Andhra Pradesh - 895

Arunachal Pradesh - 1

Assam - 36

Bihar - 153

Chandigarh - 27

Chhattisgarh - 36

Delhi - 2376

Goa - 7

Gujarat - 2624

Haryana - 272

Himachal Pradesh - 40

Jammu and Kashmir - 427

Jharkhand - 53

Karnataka - 445

Kerala -447

Ladakh - 18

Madhya Pradesh - 1699

Maharashtra - 6430

Manipur - 2

Meghalaya - 12

Mizoram - 1

Odisha - 90

Puducherry - 7

Punjab - 277

Rajasthan -1964

Tamil Nadu - 1683

Telangana - 960

Tripura - 2

Uttarakhand - 47

Uttar Pradesh - 1510

West Bengal - 514

So far, India has tested 5 lakh samples for coronavirus, according to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

AP

India currently has close to 3,773 dedicated COVID-19 hospitals, health centres and care centres with capacity of 1,94,026 isolation beds, 24,644 ICU beds and 12,371 ventilators. The capacity is being increased everyday.

Status of other countries

The total number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan have reached 11,155, with 79 per cent cases locally transmitted.

Bangladesh has decided to extend shutdown till May 5 as COVID-19 toll rose to 127. A report by Al Jazeera states that hundreds of doctors in Bangladesh have been infected by the novel virus. According to worldometers, Bangladesh has more than 4,000 cases and 127 deaths so far.

Nepal has reported 48 cases and zero deaths.

Maldives has reported 208 cases and zero deaths.

Sri Lanka has 373 confirmed cases and seven deaths.