India completes 3rd day of lockdown, COVID-19 positive cases shoot up to 874, death toll at 20
New Delhi/IBNS: After a steep rise in the number of Coronavirus patients a day ago, India on Friday tallied 874 infected cases and 20 recorded deaths as per worldometers.info as the nation completed the third day of the ongoing 21-day lockdown of its 1.3 billion people to fight the pandemic's spread.
About 73 people have recovered from the virus, according to the website.
Meanwhile, five members of a family in Kolkata, including three children, have tested positive for novel coronavirus, taking the tally in West Bengal to 15 in a single day, officials confirmed on Friday.
"Two women, aged 27 and 45 years, and three children, aged 9 months, 11 years and 6 years, have been found Covid-19 after the second confirmation test which was done at NICED," a senior official of state health department said.
"Though these five persons, who belong to a closed group of siblings and relatives, didn't travel to any foreign country in recent times, they reportedly have a history of contact to a Covid-19 positive case, who returned from the UK on Mar 16, in Delhi," the official added.
With people largely responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal for staying at home, the bustling Indian streets were mostly empty except the movement of essential services in the third day of the lockdown.
People wearing masks in neighbourhoods across Indian cities and towns ventured out in small numbers to buy food items and other essentials from the shops which were open amid a police crackdown on violators of the lockdown restrictions.
Many complained of police high-handedness and baton-charging with social media abuzz with viral videos of either cops beating up violators or dismantling vegetable carts.
Many heeding to the lockdown rules, also posted and shared videos of "irresponsible citizens" violating the diktats to endanger everyone's lives.
Earlier in the day, amid the panic among people regarding the food availability during the nationwide lockdown, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said his government will feed four lakh people from tomorrow ensuring that no one will remain hungry in the national capital.
Kejriwal also announced free food will be given in 325 schools for poor and homeless people as the country entered the third day of 21-day lockdown which was called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop the spread of COVID-19.
In a slew of steps to ease the crisis, the Reserve Bank of India on Friday announced that repo rate has been slashed by 75 basis points to 4.4 percent.
Making the announcement, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said: "The repo rate has been reduced by 75 basis points to 4.4 percent."
He said: "Finance is the lifeline of the economy and keeping it flowing is a matter of paramount importance to the RBI."
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