Coronavirus / Coronavirus cases in India cross 17,000; death toll reaches 543

New Delhi: Coronavirus confirmed cases in India have crossed 17,000-mark taking positive cases toll to 17,265 including 543 deaths while 2,547 patients have recovered, according to the health ministry's figures on Monday. On Sunday, as per the last update by the health ministry, India COVID-19 figures were at 16,116 confirmed cases including 519 death while 2,302 people had recovered. From today (April 20), there will be some relaxation for the selected business in lockdown rules with certain conditions. BMC has also issued a fresh set of directives as per which it will give relaxation from today to carry out certain public works during the lockdown, including filling of potholes on roads and laying of water supply lines.

In the directives issued on Sunday, the civic body said that arrangements will be made in each ward office to issue passes for movement of staff and contractual labour for the operation of railways, airport, ships and land ports, among other things, from Monday. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total 17,615 individuals have been found positive so far in the country. A total of 4,01,586 samples have been tested as on April 19, the apex health research body said. The Union Health Ministry's figure of 16,116 includes 77 foreign nationals. A total of 31 deaths were reported since Saturday evening -- 10 each from Gujarat and Maharashtra, three each from Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, two from West Bengal and one each from Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, the Health Ministry data said.

Of the 519 deaths, the highest number of 211 was reported from Maharashtra, followed by Madhya Pradesh (70), Gujarat (58), Delhi (43) and Telangana (18), the ministry stated. The death toll reached 17 and 16 in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab respectively. Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have reported 15 deaths each. Karnataka has reported 14 deaths, West Bengal 12, while Rajasthan has registered 11 fatalities. The disease has claimed five lives in Jammu and Kashmir, while Kerala and Haryana have recorded three COVID-19 deaths each.

Jharkhand and Bihar have reported two deaths each, while Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Assam have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry data. However, a PTI tally of the figures reported by various states as on Sunday 9:10pm showed 565 COVID-19 deaths in the country.

According to the health ministry's data updated in the evening, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country is from Maharashtra (3,651), followed by Delhi (1,893), Gujarat (1,604), Madhya Pradesh (1,407) and Tamil Nadu (1,372). The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 1,351 in Rajasthan and 1,084 in Uttar Pradesh. Telangana has 844 cases, Andhra Pradesh 603 and Kerala 400. The number of cases has risen to 384 in Karnataka, 341 in Jammu and Kashmir, 310 in West Bengal, 233 in Haryana and 219 in Punjab. Bihar has reported 86 coronavirus cases, while Odisha has 61 such cases.