Published 15:39 IST, April 18th 2020
'Humanity will surely overcome this pandemic': PM Modi reassures citizens
Coronavirus has infected 14,378 people in India and 480 people have lost their lives. Globally, at least 2249700 people have been infected
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reiterated the message that the coronavirus pandemic will be defeated and that the world will see the end of it soon.
'Will overcome the pandemic'
In a tweet on Saturday, PM Modi shared an image of the Indian tricolour projected on Matterhorn mountain in Switzerland. The flag projected was more than 1000 meters in size and was a gesture to show solidarity with all Indians who are fighting the virus.
PM Modi said that the "world is fighting the virus" together and that humanity will overcome this pandemic together.
The virus has infected 14,378 people in India and 480 people have lost their lives. Globally, more than 2249700 people have been infected and 1,54,271 people have lost their lives.
On Friday evening, the Indian Council for Medical Research released data stating that 3.35 lakh tests had been conducted till 9 pm, of which 14,098 people had tested positive. The Council conducted 31,083 tests on Friday, and reported 1,443 positive cases of the virus. The Council has been testing at the rate of roughly 9% of the total tests every day.
In other developments, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has given a go-ahead to interested institutes for conducting the clinical trial with convalescent plasma in COVID-19 patients, as per the protocol developed by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). It said that the ICMR has given a list of institutes to CDSCO which have shown interest in the conduct of the said trial.
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.
Updated 15:40 IST, April 18th 2020