Coronavirus pandemic: India sees sharp rise in new Covid-19 cases, Narendra Modi holds meetings to discuss second stimulus for economy 

New Delhi: India witness a sharp rise in new coronavirus cases and deaths, on Saturday. In the last 24 hours, India recorded over 2,400 new Covid-19-infected people and 100 new deaths from the disease. Among the dead included Lokpal member Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi (retired).

Justice Tripathi, 62, who was a former chief justice of the Chhattisgarh high court, was admitted to New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences, on Saturday, after being his condition deteriorated with the new coronavirus, Covid-19, infection. His daughter and cook, who were also infected, have recovered from the disease.

Justice AK Tripathi was a member of Lokpal since March 2019.

The total number of coronavirus cases in India has now crossed 39,500 and the total number of deaths has passed the 1,300-mark.

Among the 100 coronavirus deaths on Saturday, Gujarat’s Ahmedabad recorded 20 deaths, which took the district’s Covid-19 death toll to 184, so far. Gujarat is now in second position among states behind Maharashtra with over 4,700 cases and 236 deaths. Maharashtra has over 11,000 cases and the death toll in the state is now 485.

PM holds meetings on second stimulus for reviving economy

Meanwhile, the prime minister, Narendra Modi, held meetings with the home minister, Amit Shah, and the finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, to discuss a second stimulus package to boost the country’s coronavirus-hit economy. In the meetings, top officials of the Prime Minister’s Office, the finance ministry, and the Cabinet secretariat were also present.

On Friday, the micro, small and medium enterprises minister, Nitin Gadkari, said his ministry had requested for a stimulus package for the MSME sector and expressed hope that an announcement on this will be made soon.

Malaysia cracks down on undocumented migrants

In Malaysia, media citing officials have reported that authorities are rounding up undocumented migrants as part of efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus. According to the reports, authorities said 586 undocumented migrants were arrested during a Friday raid in a Kuala Lumpur downtown area where many foreigners live.

Reports said those detained included young children and ethnic Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.

Malaysian police said it was necessary to stop undocumented migrants from travelling to other areas amid movement restrictions imposed to contain the spread of the virus. So far, the country has recorded a total of 6,176 coronavirus cases and a death toll of 103.

Meanwhile, the global number of coronavirus cases has crossed 3.4 million and the death toll from Covid-19 infection is now over 240,000. The US is ahead of other countries by a long margin with over 1.15 million infections and over 67,000 deaths.

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

Latest coronavirus India stats:

• Confirmed: 39,699
• Deaths: 1,323
• Recovered: 10,819

Latest worldwide coronavirus stats:

• Confirmed: 3,470,277
• Deaths: 243,966
• Recovered: 1,114,164

Top 5 countries with coronavirus infections:

• United States: 1,154,931
• Spain: 245,567
• Italy: 209,328
• United Kingdom: 182,260
• France: 168,396

Top 5 countries with coronavirus deaths are:

• United States: 67,099
• Italy: 28,710
• United Kingdom: 28,131
• Spain: 25,100
• France: 24,760

[Source: Worldometer]

_{[This story was last updated at 4.15am on May 3, 2020.]}

Related