India :India spent day 1 of the 21 days lockdown scrambling for groceries, vegetables and milk even as the government issued several assurances that essential services and commodities will not be hampered by the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of deadly novel coronavirus.
On Wednesday, India registered 93 new cases of novel coronavirus despite a nationwide lockdown. Total number of deaths due to Covid-19 has reached 12 in India. Total cases rose to 612 on Wednesday.
Globally, the world tally of positive coronavirus cases has reached at least 427,940 in 181 countries, with 19,246 dead.
In India, the central and state governments held a series of meetings with e-commerce websites, retail chains, vendors and other stakeholders to ensure a seamless supply of essential goods across the nation during the 21-day lockdown period.
A report suggests that the central government is set to announce a fiscal package for the 100 million poors and businesses hit by the shutdown amid the clamour for financial assistance by states.
India on Wednesday registered three deaths due to novel coronavirus. An 85-year-old woman who had been diagnosed with coronavirus died on Wednesday. It was the second COVID-19 death in the state.
"One coronavirus positive patient, female, 85 years, died in Ahmedabad today. She had traveled abroad, and after developing symptoms of COVID-19, she was admitted at civil hospital on March 22," the government said in a tweet.
"She was suffering from many complications," it added. On March 22, a 67-year-old coronavirus patient had died in Surat.
In another case, a 65-year-old woman succumbed to coronavirus at a government hospital in Indore, becoming the first case of COVID-19 death in Madhya Pradesh. The woman, who had no history of travelling abroad in recent times, originally hailed from neighbouring Ujjain and was undergoing treatment at the government-run M Y Hospital in Indore.
Tamil Nadu also registered its first case of Covid-19 death on Wednesday. A 54-year-old man infected with the coronavirus died at a hospital in Madurai in the early hours of Wednesday. The man had a medical history of prolonged illness with uncontrolled diabetes.
The Union health ministry clarified that the second confirmatory test of a Delhi patient who died on Tuesday, came negative. Therefore, the death was not included in the updated toll, it said. The death was shown against coronavirus in Tuesday’s tally. The total death of coronavirus in India now stands at 12.
As per the latest numbers available at the time of filing this report, India registered at least 93 new cases of novel coronavirus on Wednesday, mcuh higher than the previous day's tally of 52. New cases have been reported from Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Delhi and Telangana
As per the Health Ministry, India saw 52 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday. At 99, India had seen the highest surge in infections on Monday.