Coronavirus: 724 cases in India, toll at 17; Italy records 919 deaths

Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba wrote to state governments to ramp up detection because more than 1.5 million international travellers came to India over the past two months

The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 17 in the country on Friday and the number of coronavirus cases climbed to 724, according to the Health Ministry. the ministry said four deaths were reported from Maharashtra while Gujarat had registered three deaths. Karnataka has reported two deaths so far, while Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Punjab, Delhi, West Bengal, J&K and Himachal Pradesh have reported one death each.

To ensure farmers do not face problems in harvesting of rabi crops, the Centre exempted mandis, procurement agencies, agri machinery hiring centres and intra- and inter-state movement of farm implements from lockdown rules.

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Amid fears in the scientific community that the number of positive cases in India could actually be higher than the number reported, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba wrote to state governments to ramp up detection because more than 1.5 million international travellers came to India over the past two months but there appears to be a gap between the actual monitoring for COVID-19 and the total arrivals.

With inputs from Aditi Phadnis