How's India dealing with Covid-19? Here's the latest on the pandemic

India has surpassed the 1,000-mark in total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases, and the country has seen 29 related deaths. Globally, more than 724,000 people have been infected by the virus. Of them, 152,000 have recovered so far and over 34,000 have died.

Last week, the United States had reported more than 16,000 cases of infected people in a single day, becoming the country with most cases of infection worldwide. Now, it has close to 143,000 cases. The next most affected are Italy, with nearly 98,000 infected people, and China with 82,000.

Here’s the latest on coronavirus cases in India:

Earlier, to tackle the spread of the virus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a 14-hour Janata curfew on March 22. And later, a 21-day nationwide lockdown had to be enforced to contain the infections.

Several measures have also been taken to support the slowing economy, and schemes to provide relief to the people whose livelihoods have been affected by the nationwide lockdown.

However, in the absence of a source of income, migrant workers in big cities, especially New Delhi, have been forced to violate the lockdown and find a way to go back to their hometowns. These workers, mostly daily-wage earners, are finding it difficult to pay for their food, rent and daily expenses, despite state governments’ best efforts to provide for their immediate needs.

A media report claimed the coronavirus pandemic is rapidly expanding its footprint in India and might have entered stage three. However, the government denied these claims.

Besides, an extensive report after speaking to more than a dozen front-line physicians across the country showed that none had reported a spike in patients with respiratory ailments suggesting Covid-19 yet, even as all agreed it was just a matter of time.

Talking of migrant workers’ exodus, these were seen mostly in industrial and commercial centres like Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Kolkata on Saturday, leading to fears that long queues of people jostling and pushing could lead to a surge in cases.
“You fear the disease. But I fear hunger more, not corona,” said one of the migrant workers fleeing from the national capital to his hometown in Uttar Pradesh.

Fearing a renewed surge of coronavirus (Covid-19) cases by the movement of migrant labourers, the central government cracked down on state administrations across India, and ordered that not only should labourers stay where they were, but that the administration must take steps to ensure their well-being.

There also have been reports claiming the government might extend the lockdown beyond the stipulated 21 days, but the government has denied these reports, too.

The Union Health Ministry has also stated that the course of Covid-19 tends to be more severe in the case of the elderly population, resulting in higher mortality. It has, therefore, issued a health advisory, listing some "dos" and "don'ts" for reducing the transmission of the virus among the aged sections.

The number of active Covid-19 cases in India is 942 so far. 99 people have been cured and one person who tested positive has migrated out of the country.