(Image source from: bloomberquint.com)

Entering the 15th day of the 21 days lockdown, India has witnessed a very rapid rise in the number of confirmed covid-19 cases, taking the tally of the total number of confirmed cases to over 5000, with over 100 reported deaths in the country.

Telangana State reported 40 fresh cases of the coronavirus on Tuesday, a 23 day old baby being one of them. The total number of the confirmed cases in the state is now at 348.

The infant diagnosed with the virus was among the three confirmed cases that were found in Mahbubnagar in the state. All the three cases have been reported after their return from the congregation that happened in Delhi.

The media bulletin has reported that they haven’t found any cases of community transmission yet in the state of Telangana. The ones who attended the religious congregation in Delhi are being tracked, isolated and quarantined for better safety.

The sports complex at Gachibowli, Hyderabad has been converted to a 1500 bed makeshift facility to aid possible hospitals for isolating the suspects and taking necessary steps in case things spiral out of hand.

The government of Telangana is also arranging for the ICU facilities and ventilators at these places to ensure maximum aid for the patients. The CM of Telangana, K Chandrasekhar Rao has mentioned that 22 of the private medical colleges in the state are being readied in case the need arises.

Aside from Telangana, Maharashtra is the worst hit state in the country, the bleeding hotspot of the coronavirus spread, with over 1000 confirmed cases. Over 770 confirmed cases have been reported in the last 24 hours, the country witnessing a double jump in the cases within a matter of 5 days.

The death toll of the country is at 149 with 405 people recovered and discharged from the hospitals. Maharashtra is the leading state with 1,018 cases followed by Tamil Nadu at 690, Delhi with 576 and Telangana and Kerala at 364 and 336 respectively.

Over 1,500 of the confirmed cases out of all the confirmed cases in India have been associated with the Tablighi Jamaat congregation that happened in Delhi.

The country currently has around a week of the lockdown with no further reports on the status of the lockdown. PM Narendra Modi has consulted with the individuals chief ministers of the states and asked for a gradual re-emergence, depending on the severity of the cases in the state.

Globally, over 1.4 million people have been infected with the novel coronavirus and the death toll has crossed 82,000 cases.

By Somapika Dutta