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

375 New Cases, 32 New Deaths

India reported 375 new cases and 32 new deaths raising the number of cases to 23,452 and 723 deaths. 

With 4814 people having recovered, India's recovery rate is at 20%

Maharashtra Receives Permission For Pool Testing And Plasma Therapy

Maharashtra has received permission from the centre to conduct pool testing and plasma therapy in the state. The state had applied to the ICMR for permission to begin these therapies. 

Five Cities In TN To Be Under Complete Lockdown

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami announced that a complete lockdown will be enforced in the cities of Chennai, Coimbatore, and Madurai between April 26 to April 29 from 6 AM to 9 PM. 

Two other cities of Salem &Tiruppur will have a complete lockdown between April 26 to April 28 at athe same times. 

If the country would have not gone through a lockdown, a study projection stated that India could have over 1 lakh cases, five times the cases it has currently reported. 

Dr V K Paul, Chairman of Empowered Group 1 for Medical devices stated that India's doubling rate is slowing to 10 days. 

India's doubling rate has slowed down from 5.2 days to 8.6 days from Week 1 to Week 4 of the lockdown 

Along 9,45,000 people have been kept under observation by the community surveillance teams under the National Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) stated Dr. S K Singh, head of the NCDC 

The surveillance system has been in place since January 23, 2020 in the country. 

Community surveillance is actively being carried out across the country in 37 states and 734 districts where special dashboards have been created through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP)

Health Ministry Converses With Red Cross

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan in conversation with Red Cross has assured that if the need arises, they could constitute a pick up and drop service for blood along with requesting Red Cross to disseminate information about the plasma therapy. 

There is a need to focus on districts with high mortality rate. Along with this, the health seeking behaviour in communities should be enhanced to reduce the stigma surrounding this disease.