Coronavirus updates: Cases climb to 35,043; death toll now 1,147 Goa residents will get free quarantine, says Sawant; J&K students in MP return home

PTI, 1.05.20, New Delhi: The death toll due to the novel coronavirus pandemic rose to 1,147 with 72 more fatalities and the number of cases climbed to 35,043 in the country on Friday, the Union health ministry said.

The active Covid-19 cases stood at 25,007, while 8,888 people have recovered, and one patient has migrated. The total number of 35,043 cases includes 111 foreign nationals, according to ministry data updated in the morning.

Seventy-two deaths were reported since Thursday evening, out of which 27 fatalities were from Maharashtra, 17 from Gujarat, 11 from West Bengal, seven each from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, and three from Delhi.

Out of the total 1,147 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 459 fatalities, followed by Gujarat with 214, Madhya Pradesh with 137, Delhi with 59, Rajasthan with 58, Uttar Pradesh with 39, West Bengal with 33 and Andhra Pradesh with 31.

The coronavirus disease (Covid-19) toll reached 27 in Tamil Nadu, 26 in Telengana, while Karantaka has reported 21 deaths.

Punjab has registered 19 fatalities so far, while the pathogen has claimed eight lives in Jammu and Kashmir, four in Kerala. Jharkhand and Haryana have recorded three deaths each.

Bihar has reported two deaths, while Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Assam have reported a fatality each, according to the ministry data.

The highest number of confirmed cases are from Maharashtra at 10,498 followed by Gujarat at 4,395, Delhi at 3,515, Madhya Pradesh at 2,660 infections.

Rajasthan has reported 2,584 infections, Tamil Nadu 2,323 and Uttar Pradesh at 2,203 cases. The Covid-19 cases has gone up to 1,403 in Andhra Pradesh and 1,038 in Telangana.

The number of confirmed cases has risen to 795 in West Bengal, 614 in Jammu and Kashmir, 565 in Karnataka, 497 in Kerala, 418 in Bihar and 357 in Punjab.

Haryana has reported 313 coronavirus cases, while Odisha has 142 cases. A total of 109 people have been infected with the deadly virus in Jharkhand and 57 in Uttarakhand.

Chandigarh has reported 56 cases, Assam has 42, while Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have registered 40 infections each so far. Andaman and Nicobar Islands has 33 Covid-19 cases while Ladakh has reported 22 infections so far.

Meghalaya has reported 12 cases, Puducherry has eight cases, while Goa has seven Covid-19 cases.

Manipur and Tripura have two cases each, while Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have reported a case each.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR," the ministry said on its website adding, "291 cases are being assigned to states for contact tracing."

States-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said.

Goa residents will get free quarantine: CM

Residents of Goa, who are currently stranded in different parts of the country due to the lockdown, will be quarantined for free by the government once they return to the state, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has announced.

He made the announcement through a tweet posted on Thursday.

"I wish to inform that all Goans who are currently stranded in various parts of the country would be quarantined at Govt facility without any fees/charges upon their arrival in Goa. Further, they would be shifted to home quarantine as soon as their #COVID19 test proves negative," Sawant said on the micro-blogging site.

As per the guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Goa government has already begun the process of bringing back the people from the state, who are stranded in parts of the country.

 J&K students in MP return home

A large number of Kashmiri students stranded in parts of Madhya Pradesh due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown have been waiting for their safe return to the native places.

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh recently wrote a letter to Union home minister Amit Shah, requesting him to make necessary arrangements for the nearly 400 Kashmiri students stuck in Madhya Pradesh.

Singh said that as Jammu and Kashmir is under the central rule, it is the Centre's duty to help the people from that region stranded in different parts of the country.

An assistant professor at a private college in Indore, Javid Ahmad Mir, is running a campaign for the return of the students from Jammu and Kashmir.

"In Indore alone, nearly 55 students from Jammu and Kashmir have been stranded since over a month due to the lockdown," Mir told PTI.

Apart from college students and PhD scholars, an 80- year-old woman from Kashmir is also stuck in Indore, he said.

In his letter, Digvijaya Singh said that 32 students from Jammu and Kashmir are stranded in Bhopal and 17 others in Gwalior. He said they should be taken back to Jammu and Kashmir and quarantined as per the protocol.