Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi Have Almost Half Of India's COVID-19 Cases

Coronavirus Cases India: Over 21,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported from across India

Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi have around 48 per cent of all COVID-19 cases in India, with each state reporting over 2,000 cases; Maharashtra alone has over 5,500 cases. In total seven states, including the above three and Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, have around 78 per cent of all cases, with each reporting over 1,000 cases.

Overall, novel coronavirus cases have been reported from 430 districts in 32 states and union territories across India as of noon on Thursday. Six major cities have reported over 500 cases each, with more than 3,000 in Mumbai, 2,000 in Delhi and 1,000 in Ahmedabad.

The total number of cases has crossed 21,000 and 681 deaths have been linked to the infectious virus.

The country is under a "total lockdown", ordered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month and extended last week to May 3, but the number of cases continues to rise; 1,409 new cases were detected over a 24-hour period the Health Ministry said this morning.

There is some good news though, with government data showing that the number of people who have recovered after contracting the virus is steadily increasing. The recovery rate climbed from 9.99 per cent last week to 17.48 per cent on Tuesday.

Government data also shows the doubling rate of the infection - or the days it takes for the number of cases to increase by 2 - is increasing. On Monday the Health Ministry said this was 7.5 days, up from 3.4 days before the nationwide lockdown.

While the number of cases in heavily-populated areas of the country remains a point of concern, the uneven spread - with nearly 80 per cent of all cases in seven states - has allowed health officials to focus efforts on "red zones", or areas with maximum cases.

Coronavirus Cases India: Over 21,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported and 681 have died

Consequently, this has also allowed the government to cautiously re-start economic activity in least affected areas, with appropriate emphasis on social distancing protocols, as a balance is sought between a lockdown to break the chain of transmission and ensuring the economy is not allowed to deteriorate any further.

Last week the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted the Indian economy would grow at only 1.9 per cent this year. However, the IMF also said the economy, Asia's third-largest, would grow at 7.4 per cent the following year.

Such growth levels, the IMF cautioned, were depending on the novel coronavirus outbreak being successfully contained this year.

On Wednesday World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the COVID-19 virus could stalk humanity for a long time to come since most countries were still in the early stages of tackling the pandemic.