The number of coronavirus toll in India crossed 1,000 on Thursday after 67 new deaths were reported, and cases rose to 33,610 with 1,823 new infections in a day. State governments also began preparations to help lakhs of migrant workers and students reach their homes from different parts of the country, where they have been stranded for over a month due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

a person standing in front of a door: Coronavirus Outbreak: 1,823 new cases reported today as total rises to 33,610; states prepare to facilitate travel of stranded people© Provided by Firstpost Coronavirus Outbreak: 1,823 new cases reported today as total rises to 33,610; states prepare to facilitate travel of stranded people
As people waited for further clarity on the government's next move on the nationwide lockdown, whose second phase ends this Sunday, former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan said India should open up up its economy in a measured way soon to save jobs and estimated that Rs 65,000 crore would need to be spent to support the poor amid the crisis.

Interacting with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi through video conferencing, Rajan said it is "all too easy to have a lockdown forever", but that is not sustainable for the economy and India does not have the capacity to support people across the spectrum for too long.

Meanwhile, in the Union health ministy's daily briefing on Thursday, officials said that the recovery rate of COVID-19 patients has improved to nearly 25.2 percent, from about 13 percent a fortnight ago.

The ministry's evening update said that 1,075 people have died due to COVID-19 so far across the country after 67 deaths were reported since Wednesday evening.

However, a PTI tally of the toll reported by various states and union territories, as of 8.30 pm, showed at least 1,137 people have lost their lives while close to 34,500 people have been infected so far.

At the press briefing, Health Ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal said that the current fatality rate among detected is 3.2 percent, with 65 percent being men and 35 percent women.

"If we divide it on the basis of age, then 14 percent fatality has been seen in those aged below 45 years, 34.8 percent between 45-60 years and 51.2 percent in those above 60 years," he said.

Agarwal further said that the recovery rate for COVID-19 has improved from 13.06 percent to over 25 percent in the past 14 days. He added that the doubling rate for COVID-19 cases has improved to 11 days as against 3.4 days before the lockdown was imposed.

Additionally, he said the doubling rate of COVID-19 cases was found to be between 11-20 days in Delhi (11.3), Uttar Pradesh (12), Jammu and Kashmir (12.2), Odisha (13), Rajasthan (17.8), Tamil Nadu (19.1) and Punjab (19.5).

A doubling rate of between 20-40 days was seen in Karnataka (21.6), Ladakh (24.2), Haryana (24.4), Uttarakhand (30.3) and Kerala (37.5), Agarwal said.

A doubling rate of over 40 days was noted in Assam (59), Telangana (70.8), Chhattisgarh (89.7) and Himachal Pradesh (191.6), he added.

Speaking about testing being scaled up, Agarwal said starting with one single laboratory, the RT-PCR tests are now available in 292 government and 97 private facilities across the country.

"On Wednesday, 58,686 tests were performed and if you see the average number of tests performed each day in the last five days, it comes to 49,800 tests. It is important to understand that whatever capacity is needed, we have progressively increased it," he said.

COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra cross 10,000-mark, Gujarat reports 313 new patients

Maharashtra alone saw its tally crossing 10,000 with 583 new cases during the day, while 27 more people died. The state tops the nationwide tally with a total 10,498 confirmed cases and 459 deaths so far. Mumbai alone now accounts for 6,874 confirmed cases and 290 deaths.

Gujarat also saw its tally of confirmed cases rising by 313 to 4,395, while 17 more people died on Thursday to take the state's death toll to 214. Ahmedabad reported more than 3,000 cases and 149 deaths.

Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Karnataka and West Bengal also reported new cases.

There are more than 24,000 active patients across the country, while more than 8,300 people have recovered and one patient has migrated. The total number of cases include 111 foreign nationals.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said India is doing better compared to other countries on all parameters in its fight against COVID-19 and should be able to win this decisive war in the coming few weeks.

About 60,000 foreign nationals from 72 countries have also been evacuated from India, while the issue of evacuation of Indians stranded abroad is also under discussion, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.

Story Credit;MSN.com