Coronavirus LIVE Update: India's Cases Rise To 59,92,532; 94,503 Dead

Shramik Special Trains To Be Run At Full Capacity

According to PTI, the railways have announced that the Shramil Special Trains will be run at full capacity of 1,700 instead of 1,200. The trains will also have three stops in the destination state.

Ministry Revises Guidelines for Mild/Asymptomatic Cases

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has issued new guidelines for people with mild/asymptomatic cases suggesting that they follow home isolation and do not need to be tested again once the home isolation ends. 

This comes after the Ministry had also advised these cases to not be tested before discharged when they were in the designated COVID-19 care centers. 

India Records Highest Spike in Cases

India's total number of cases and deaths stand at 67,152 and 2,206 respectively as the country reported 4,213 new cases and 97 new deaths. 

This is the highest spike in the number of cases reported by the country. 

Indian Railways To Gradually Restart Passenger Trains From May 12

Ministry of Railways recently stated in a press release that the Indian Railways shall gradually restart passenger train operations from May 12, with 15 pairs of trains initially.

These trains we be run as special trains, connecting Delhi with important cities of the country like Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.

"Thereafter, Indian Railways shall start more special services on new routes, based on the available coaches after reserving 20,000 coaches for COVID-19 care centres and adequate number of coaches being reserved to enable operation of up to 300 trains everyday as “Shramik Special” for stranded migrants," the statement said.

Tickets can be purchased on the IRCTC website, starting from May 11 at 4 pm.

Wuhan Reports New Cases, North East China Hit By COVID-19

According to a Reuters report on Sunday, China is starting to see a new wave of infections in it's North Eastern region. Chinese city Jilin has now been classified as high risk with the detection of clusters, while Shulan has been classified as medium.

Wuhan, where the outbreak originally started, also reported its first case in over a month.

5 Air India Pilots Test Positive For COVID-19

Air India just announced that five pilots at the airline company have tested positive for COVID-19. They have been placed under quarantine, and none of the five have shown any symptoms.

Furthermore, an engineer and a technician at Air India Engineering Services Limited have also tested positive for the virus.

All seven are Mumbai-based, and are thought to have contracted the virus locally.

India's Cases Cross 60,000, Deaths Cross 2000

India witnessed a spike of 3,277 cases and 128 deaths as it reported 62,939 cases and 2,109 deaths. 

The recovery rate stands at 30.75% as around 19,358 people have recovered from the virus so far in the country. 

Maharashtra Accounts For 1/3rd Indian Cases

On Saturday, the state of Maharashtra reported 1165 new cases taking the state's total to 20,228 accounting for one third of India's total cases. 

The state reported 48 deaths which took the death toll in the state to 779. 

ICMR Partners With Bharat Biotech International To Develop COVID-19 Vaccine

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has partnered with the Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) to develop COVID-19 vaccine in India. ICMR and BBIL will develop a vaccine using the virus strain isolated at ICMR’s National Institute of Virology, ICMR said in a press release on Saturday.

Kerala Reports Two New COVID-19 Cases

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced that Kerala has reported two new cases of COVID-19. Both the patients have arrived in the state from outside the country. One patient has recovered. The total case count in the state stands at 505 with 17 active cases and three deaths.