India cases at 8,773,479; Trump sticks to 'no national lockdown' stance

India has reported 45,343 fresh Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours. The total caseload now stands at 8,773,479. The country's death toll has mounted to 129,225. Delhi recorded a spike of 7,802 Covid-19 cases on Friday taking its infection tally to over 474,830.

A petition has been filed before the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre and the state governments to fix the maximum rate for the RT-PCR test for Covid-19 uniformly all over India.

US President Donald Trump has ruled out a national lockdown under his administration to tackle the coronavirus outbreak, saying such a move costs lives, impacts the economy and "the cure cannot be worse than the problem itself". The United States experienced the smallest economic contraction and the most rapid economic recovery of any major Western nation. 

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