COVID-19 death toll in India reaches 21
Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi/IBNS: The COVID-19 death toll in India reached 21 as a 69-year old man, who had tested positive for the Novel Coronavirus, died at Kochi Medical College on Saturday.
The deceased, who is from Kerala's Ernakulam, had a travel history to Dubai.
As per the latest update, 904 people in India have been infected with the virus while the total number of positive cases across the globe has crossed 590,000 including more than 25,000 deaths with the US becoming the first country to register more than 100,000 cases.
India, a country of 1.3 billion people, on Saturday entered the fourth day of the three-week nationwide lockdown which has been called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop the spread of the deadly virus.
The 21-day lockdown was called a day after 1.3 billion people stayed back home to observe "Janata Curfew".
"Janata Curfew" was also called by Prime Minister Modi who on Saturday dialled a number of Chief MInisters to discuss COVID-19.
As a measure to stop the spread of Coronavirus, Modi-led central government has already banned all international and domestic flights till Apr 14 while train services have also been suspended.
The inter-state bus services are not available to the Indians making it tough for the migrant workers to travel back to their native lands though the government has urged all people to remain whereever they were.
Essential services which include grocery shops, pharmacies, media, banks and ATMs have been exempted from the lockdown to help people to buy the basic commodities and materials.
Though Prime Minister Modi and several Chief Ministers have repeatedly assured people that there was no dearth of food items in the country, long queues outside the shops were a familiar picture in the early days of lockdown.
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