India's COVID-19 cases cross 24,500; Death toll at 775 and 5,063 recoveries thus far

The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 775 and the number of cases climbed to 24,506 in the country on Saturday, with 57 more deaths and 1,429 fresh cases being reported in the past 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry. The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 18,668 as 5,063 people have been cured and discharged, and one patient migrated, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Maharashtra worst-hit state across India

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Of the 775 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 301 fatalities, followed by Gujarat at 127, Madhya Pradesh at 92, Delhi at 53, Andhra Pradesh at 29, Rajasthan at 27 and Telangana at 26. The death toll increased to Uttar Pradesh at 25, 22 in Tamil Nadu while Karnataka has reported 18 cases.

In a major boost to India's battle against Coronavirus, Union Joint Health Secretary Lav Agarwal, on Thursday, stated that India's recovery rate has increased to 19.89%. Moreover, he revealed that 78 districts have not reported a single COVID case in the past 14 days.

National lockdown

The country is currently in the second phase of the nationwide lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 14 and will go on till May 3. In an address to the nation on April 14, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "It is clearly evident from the experience of the past few days, that we have chosen the correct path. Our country has greatly benefited from social distancing and lockdown. From an economic only point of view, it undoubtedly looks costly right now; but measured against the lives of Indian citizens, there is no comparison itself. The path that India has taken within our limited resources has become a topic of discussion in the entire world today."

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