Coronavirus pandemic LIVE | India reports 240 new infections in 12 hrs, takes tally to 1,637; 38 dead

India reported over 1,300 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday after the number of hotspots of the disease increased in the country. The Health Ministry said on Tuesday underlining that it is implementing rigorous contact tracing and cluster containment strategies.

Addressing the daily press conference on the COVID-19 situation, Joint Secretary of Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said 227 cases have been reported in the last 24 hours attributing the increase to “lack of people’s support and delay in timely detection” of the cases.

Advertisement

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has warned America to brace for a “very, very painful two weeks” as the White House projected that the coronavirus pandemic could claim 100,000 to 240,000 lives, even if current social distancing guidelines are maintained.

The United Nations chief has warned the coronavirus pandemic could be the “worst crisis” since World War II, with the number of dead in the United States now higher than in China and hard-hit countries in Europe reporting their highest number of deaths in a single day.

We must respond decisively – with shared responsibility & global solidarity – to stop the spread of #COVID19 and the devastation it is causing everywhere.

Here are the three steps to tackle the crisis and recover better: https://t.co/QzsJt5K9HI pic.x.com/pfbbbT0WIF

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) March 31, 2020

The number of global coronavirus cases stands at 859,796 the most in the United States (189,618), following by Italy (105,792), Spain (95,923) and China (82,294). Among the 42,341 people who have died from the virus, the most are from Italy (12,428), Spain (8,464) and US (3,899).