New Delhi: With fresh 4,03,738 fresh Covid cases and 4,092 deaths in the last 24 hours, coronavirus continues to pummel India. This is the fifth time in a week when the country has crossed the four lakh-mark of new cases in a day. On Friday, India had recorded 4,01,078 infections and 4,187 fatalities—the highest single-day spike in deaths.

Following the fresh spike, India’s total tally of Covid-19 cases now stands at 2,22,96,414 with 37,36,648 active cases and a total of 2,42,362 deaths, so far. According to the Health Ministry, a total of 1,83,17,404 people have been discharged till date.

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The Drugs Controller General of India has approved an anti-COVID-19 drug developed by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) for emergency use. An anti-Covid-19 therapeutic application of the drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) has been developed by INMAS, a lab of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), in collaboration with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL), Hyderabad.

The Congress party has accused the Central government of failing to protect the lives of the people amid the Covid-19 pandemic. It also urged the Centre to follow the suggestions of the experts to declare a nationwide lockdown in the wake of the rising number of Covid-19 cases across the country.

Despite a decline in coronavirus positivity rate in the national capital, around 85 per cent of the Delhiites want CM Kejriwal to extend the ongoing lockdown by at least a week while 70 per cent favour 2-week lockdown extension, a survey conducted by online platform LocalCircles showed.  Earlier, the traders’ body, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) had urged the L-G Baijal and CM Kejriwal to extend the lockdown in Delhi till 15 May.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has urged the Centre to impose a complete nationwide lockdown in India to break the Coronavirus transmission. “Lockdown will break the chain of devastating spread,” said the IMA, a national voluntary organisation of Doctors of Modern Scientific System of Medicine in India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday dialled Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur to take stock of the coronavirus situation in their respective states.