Coronavirus outbreak: India tally jumps to 2,547 with 478 new cases

The number of Covid-19 cases climbed to 2,547 in the country on Friday while the death toll rose to 62, registering a jump of 478 cases, according to Union health ministry data.
 

The number of active cases stands at 2,322, while 162 people were either cured or discharged and one had migrated, the ministry stated.
 

In an updated data at 6 pm, six fresh deaths were reported. Four were from Telengana and one each from Gujarat and Punjab.

Maharashtra has reported the most number of deaths (16), followed by Gujarat (8), Telangana (7), Madhya Pradesh (6), Punjab (5), Delhi (4), Karnataka (3), West Bengal (3), Jammu & Kashmir (2), Uttar Pradesh (2), and Kerala (2). Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh have reported a death each.
 

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said a total of 69,245 samples have been tested as on April 3 (9 pm) and 2,653 individuals have confirmed positive among suspected cases and contacts of known positive cases in India.

According to the health ministry data, the 2,547 figure includes 55 foreign nationals.
 

Generally there is a lag between the ministry data and the figures reported by different states due to some procedural delays in assigning individual figures to states.

According to the health ministry, the highest number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus infection was reported from Maharashtra at 335 followed by Tamil Nadu with 309 infections and Kerela with 286 cases. The number of cases in Delhi has gone up to 219, in Uttar Pradesh to 172, in Rajasthan to 167, in Telengana 158 and Andhra Pradesh to 132.

Opec+ pushes for global coalition to stem oil rout
 

The Opec+ oil cartel is pressing to form an unprecedented global coalition to cut production and stem the historic rout in oil prices. Oil surged on the prospect that an idea first touted by US President Donald Trump on Thursday looked to be gaining some traction. Russia’s oil industry is ready to cut, according to people familiar with the situation, and a meeting of OPEC+ members has been hastily scheduled for Monday. As the pandemic knocks out as much as a third of global demand the oil-price slump threatens the budgets and political stability of oil-dependent nations, the existence of the US shale industry and millions of jobs in a sector already in turmoil.There are still obstacles to a deal. There’s no indication whether Trump will bow to Saudi and Russian demands that the US and other countries join the cuts.

 

Asian Development Bank sees global cost as high as $4.1 trn
 

The cost of the coronavirus pandemic could be as high as $4.1 trillion, or almost 5 per cent of global GDP, depending on the disease’s spread through Europe, the US and other major economies, the Asian Development Bank said. A shorter containment period could limit the damage to $2 trillion, or 2.3 per cent of world output, the Manila-based lender said in its Outlook report released on Friday.
 

Google to publish user location data to help govts
 

Google said it would publish users' location data around the world from Friday to allow governments to gauge the effectiveness of social distancing measures, brought in to stem the Covid-19 pandemic. The reports on users' movements in 131 countries will be made available on a special website and will "chart movement trends over time by geography", according to a post on one of Google's blogs. Trends will display "a percentage point increase or decrease in visits" to locations like parks, shops, homes and places of work, not "the absolute number of visits," said the post, signed by Jen Fitzpatrick, who leads Google Maps, and the company's chief health officer Karen DeSalvo.
 

Merkel returns to work virus-free
 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel returned to work on Friday, ending a 12-day self-enforced quarantine after at least three tests showed that she was free of the coronavirus. The German leader took to her apartment in Berlin on March 22 .