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Coronavirus latest LIVE Updates: Death toll rises to 17, cases soar to 724 in India

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The death toll due to the coronavirus epidemic rose to 17 with Rajasthan recording its second death on Friday. The total number of cases has soared to 724 including 66 discharged cases, according to the Health Ministry. While globally, the casualties Friday spiked to 24,057 and the number of cases crossed 5 lakhs with the United States surpassing Italy and China to report 85,653 positive cases late Thursday night.

Even though Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Thursday announced a 1.7 lakh crore relief package to help people hit by the 21-day lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the big challenge for the government is the country’s 37 per cent –internal migrants. India, as per the 2011 census, records 45.36 crore or 37% of its population as “internal migrants”.

Also, as part of efforts to step up testing for coronavirus, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has invited manufacturers to supply 5 lakh antibody kits for diagnosis of infection. Experts in the government have pointed out that the serological test will act as a screening process, as was done in South Korea, one of the few countries which has been able to flatten the pandemic curve.

Italy is still at the top in the number of casualties which is 8,215 followed by Spain at 4,365, China at 3,169, Iran at 2,234 and France at 1,696. While after the US, the number of positive cases in China is at 81,782, Italy at 80,589, Spain at 57,786 and Germany at 43,938 so far.

INDIAN EXPRESS

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