India on Tuesday recorded a jump of 354 Coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total tally to 4,221 including 114 deaths.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, of the total infections, 3981 are active cases while 325 people have been cured/discharged/migrated.

Maharashtra remained the worst-hit state with a total number of positive cases rising to 891 with 45 fatalities. Meanwhile, Dharavi, one of the world’s biggest slums, has reported seven cases including one death in just a span of one week. Contact tracing of the new cases is being done.

Maharashtra is followed by Tamil Nadu with 621 reported cases and five deaths and Delhi with 523 infections and 7 fatalities.

The rise in the number of Coronavirus cases has been attribued to the Tablighi Jamaat event at Nizamuddin, which was attended by over 2000 foreigners and hundreds of Indian preachers.

The spike in cases has prompted speculation that India may extend the 21-day lockdown to contain the spread of the pandemic.

While Cabinet Secretary Rajeev Gauba had a week ago denied that there were any plans to extend the lockdown, several states have written to the Centre saying that the restrictions must continue.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asked the people of the country to be prepared for a long fight and not get tired.

According to the Health Ministry, supply lines from abroad opened up on Monday with the receipt of 1.70 lakh Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) coveralls from China. Along with domestic supplies of 20,000 coveralls, a total of 1.90 lakh coveralls will now be distributed to hospitals and will add to the 3,87,473 PPEs already available in the country as of now. A total of 2.94 lakh PPE coveralls have been arranged and supplied by the government.

“In addition to this, 2 lakh domestically produced N95 masks are also being sent to various hospitals. Including these, over 20 lakh N95 masks have been supplied by Government of India. About 16 lakh N95 masks are presently available in the country, and this figure will increase with the fresh supply of 2 lakh masks”, said the ministry in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry has released an aggressive containment plan for large outbreaks of COVID-19, which includes buffer zones and sealing off areas for nearly a month. The government made the containment plan after clusters posing high risk of further spread of COVID-19 emerged in several states. The strategy is meant to contain the highly contagious disease caused by a novel Coronavirus, first detected in China in December, within a defined geographical area by early detection of cases, breaking the chain of transmission and thus preventing its spread to new areas.

So far, over 74,500 people have died and nearly 1.3 million are infected in the Coronavirus pandemic that has affected around 180 nations across the world.

In one of the most high-profile cases, British PM Boris Johnson, who has tested positive, was moved taken into intensive care after his condition worsened on Monday.