India's coronavirus cases cross 80,000; recovery rate improves to 34.06%

New Delhi [India], May 15 : India's count of coronavirus cases crossed 80,000 on Friday increasing by 3,967 cases in the last 24 hours as the total recovery rate improved to 34.06 per cent.
The total number of COVID-19 positive cases stands at 81,970 with 2,649 deaths while there are 51,401 active coronavirus cases. Health Ministry said that 27,920 people have been cured.
The ministry said that 1,685 patients have been cured in the last 24 hours taking the total recovery rate at 34.06 per cent.
Maharashtra continues to account for the largest number of COVID-19 cases with the total count at 27,524. A total of 6,059 patients have been cured/discharged and 1,019 have died.
The 15th meeting of the high-level Group of Ministers (GoM) on COVID-19 was held at Nirman Bhawan, here under the chairmanship of Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.
A detailed presentation was made on the present status of COVID-19 cases globally and within the country. Worldwide the total number of COVID-19 positive cases stand at 42,48,389 with 2,94,046 deaths and the fatality rate pegged at 6.92 per cent, whereas in India, the fatality rate is 3.23 per cent.
The Group of Ministers (GoM) had in-depth deliberation on containment strategy and management aspects of COVID-19, as well as the measures being taken by the Centre and various States.
The GoM was informed that there are 30 municipal areas which are constituting 79 per cent of India's caseload.
It noted that focus of COVID-19 management strategy needs to be on the states with the highest number of confirmed cases and highest number of fatalities and on treatment and case fatality management, for which timely detection of infection and contact tracing was the best way forward.
GOM also discussed the challenges before various states and UTs arising from the returning migrant labourers and the returnees from abroad.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday announced Rs one lakh crore financial assistance to fund agriculture infrastructure projects at farm-gate and aggregation points.
The agri-infrastructure fund will be used for setting up cold-chain and post-harvest management infrastructure, she said.
"The facility will also assist primary agriculture cooperative societies, farmers producer organisations, agriculture entrepreneurs and start-ups among other agri-focused institutions. It will improve storage capacities, increase farmers' income and boost exports out of India," she said.
Sitharaman made the announcement at a press conference here as part of the third tranche of the Rs 20 lakh crore economic stimulus package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his May 12 address to help India become self-reliant in the wake of novel coronavirus pandemic.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday said that the Delhi government has submitted its proposals to the Centre for the relaxations that people are expecting from the government for coronavirus lockdown 4.0.
The Supreme Court has refused to entertain a petition seeking directions for closure of liquor shops in the national capital claiming proper social distancing and other COVID-19 lockdown norms were not being maintained outside these shops.
Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal has said the state has written to the Cental Government urging it to extend the lockdown beyond May 18.
Here are the top COVID-19 related updates of the day:
1) The World Bank has approved USD one billion dollar package for India's urban poor and migrant workers due to coronavirus crisis. It will leverage the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana to help protect the poor and vulnerable, said World Bank's Country Director for India, Junaid Ahmad.
2) In Maharashtra, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has granted permission to Mumbai-based Islamic organisation, Raza Academy, to facilitate the burial of persons dying of coronavirus across Mumbai.
3) The national capital has not reported any deaths due to coronavirus in the last 24 hours but 425 new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed. The total number of positive cases in Delhi is 8,895.
4) Forty-five more COVID-19 cases have been reported from Karnataka, taking the total number of cases in the state to 1,032, state Health Department said.
5) Border Security Force (BSF) has reported 11 new COVID-19 positive cases in the last 24 hours. Thirteen BSF personnel have been discharged from the hospital after testing negative for the virus since Thursday.
6)Tamil Nadu government on Friday directed all government offices to function on a rotational basis starting May 18 with 50 per cent staff.
7) The total number of coronavirus cases in Rajasthan has gone up to 4,688 with 154 new cases.
8) Andhra Pradesh reported 57 more COVID-19 cases taking the total count to 2,157.
9) The total number of positive cases in Punjab has risen to 1,942 with seven new positive cases reported today, said Punjab Health Department.
10) Starting from just four trains on May 1, Indian Railways managed to Operationalise more than 1000 such Shramik Special trains in less 15 days. On May 14, a total of 145 Shramik Special trains were operationalized from various states carrying more than 2.10 lakh passengers back to their home states. Till now more than 12 lakh passengers have reached their home states by these trains.