Coronavirus pandemic: India records highest number in single-day cases, Covid-19 death toll crosses 1,000; government says ‘plasma therapy not approved’ 

A person is being tested for coronavirus infection.

New Delhi: For the third day running in India, the number of coronavirus cases in each of the three days has topped the previous day’s number. On Tuesday, India registered over 1,900 new cases and nearly 70 new deaths. The death toll in India is now over 1,000.

Maharashtra led the states with 31 new deaths followed by Gujarat, 19; Madhya Pradesh, 10; and Uttar Pradesh, 3.

Meanwhile, the government said plasma therapy has not been approved as a mainstream treatment and it is still in trial phase. Viewing the unknown risk factors as unacceptable, the government said the therapy is only for research and trial purposes and it will remain so until there is hard scientific evidence to support its efficacy.

Interestingly, several states, like Delhi and Karnataka, have started trials on patients with plasma therapy, in which plasma is extracted from the blood of a recovered coronavirus patient and infused in an active patient. Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Rajasthan have sought permission from the Centre to treat Covid-19 patients with it.

New Zealand says community transfer of Covid-19 stopped

The New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said that her country was able to stop community transmission of Covid-19, after effectively eliminating the virus. However, officials have warned against complacency and said it does not mean a total end to new coronavirus cases.

On Sunday, Ardern said, “We have done what very few countries have been able to do. We have stopped a wave of devastation.” Following this, the country’s director general of health, Ashley Bloomfield, said, “We’ve achieved our goal of elimination ... That never meant zero, but it does mean we know where our cases are coming from.”

The country has allowed some non-essential business, healthcare and education activity to resume. However, most people will still be required to remain at home at all times and avoid all social interactions.

Meanwhile, the global coronavirus cases have crossed 3.1 million with over 68,000 new cases recorded, on Wednesday. The United States continues to lead other countries with a million coronavirus infections and over 58,000 deaths.

Latest global coronavirus stats from Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering

Latest coronavirus India stats:

• Confirmed: 31,360
• Deaths: 1,008
• Recovered: 7,747

Latest worldwide coronavirus stats:

• Confirmed: 3,127,948
• Deaths: 216,987
• Recovered: 950,863

Top 5 countries with coronavirus infections:

• United States: 1,029,878
• Spain: 232,128
• Italy: 201,505
• France: 165,911
• Germany: 159,431

Top 5 countries with coronavirus deaths are:

• United States: 58,640
• Italy: 27,359
• Spain: 23,822
• France: 23,660
• United Kingdom: 21,678

[Source: Worldometer]

_{[This story was last updated at 4.05am on April 29, 2020.]}

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