Covid-19| US virus death toll exceeds official China tally: Johns Hopkins

21-day lockdown by PM Modi crucial to fight against COVID-19, says European think-tank European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS): ANI

With five new cases, total count of the state reaches to 225. Of them, one in Mumbai and two each in Pune and Buldhana.

A 68-year-old man in Kerala who had been tested positive for coronavirus passed away early morning on Tuesday, reports ANI. He suffered kidney failure: Medical Superintendent, Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram , Kerala

A group of around 150 members of the transgender community in Surat has been distributing food kits - consisting of rice, flour, oil, tea leaves, sugar among other things - among the residents of slum areas of the city and other needy people amid caronavirus lockdown: ANI

Nisha,a member of the group,says, "We had started with 200 kits but now it has gone up to around 1500. We prepare it ourselves for distribution. We used to get together for celebration of navratri,but it got cancelled this yr due to #COVID19. So we thought of doing this instead" https://t.co/TZwcwSJ9hF pic.twitter.com/LeyqvHzUbK

— ANI (@ANI) March 31, 2020

A military hospital ship arrived in New York Monday as America's coronavirus epicenter gears up for the peak of the pandemic, reports AFP.

The navy's 1,000-bed USNS Comfort docked at a Manhattan pier. The 894 foot-long vessel -- which also has space for a dozen operating rooms -- was greeted by cheering crowds after departing Norfolk, Virginia on Saturday.

The coronavirus pandemic's economic fallout could cause China's growth to come to a virtual standstill and drive 11 million more people in East Asia into poverty, the World Bank warned Monday, reports news agency AFP.

The pandemic is causing "an unprecedented global shock, which could bring growth to a halt and could increase poverty across the region," said Aaditya Mattoo, World Bank chief economist for East Asia and the Pacific.

Even in the best-case scenario, the region will see a sharp slowdown, with China's growth slowing to 2.3 percent from 6.1 percent in 2019, according to a report on the pandemic's impact on the region.

The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus pandemic climbed past 3,000 on Monday, the deadliest day yet in the country's mounting crisis, while New York cheered the arrival of a gleaming 1,000-bed U.S. Navy hospital ship as a sign of hope in the city's desperate fight, reports Reuters.

In a grim new milestones marking the spread of the virus, total deaths across the United States hit 3,017, including at least 540 on Monday, and the reported cases climbed to more than 163,000, according to a Reuters tally.

People from Delhi's Nizamuddin area continue to be taken to different hospitals for checkup after six persons from Telangana who attended a religious prayer meeting in the locality earlier this month died of coronavirus on Monday. Twenty four people from the area tested positive and nearly 200 others showed symptoms of the disease on Monday when officials began evacuating the six-storey building of some 1,400 people who are believed to have been exposed to the virus.

The Delhi Police on Monday night cordoned off a major area in Nizamuddin West in south Delhi where several people showed symptoms of being infected with the virus after taking part in a religious congregation earlier this month, an officials said, reports PTI.

"As many as 85 people were brought to LNJP Hospital on Sunday from Nizamuddin area and 68 were brought today, so a total of 153 are admitted in isolation wards and being tested for infection," LNJP MS Dr J C Passey said.

Over 2,000 delegates, including from Indonesia and Malaysia, attended the Tabligh-e-Jamaat congregation in Nizamuddin West from March 1-15, officials said as the south Delhi neighbourhood was virtually sealed following fears that some people may have contracted COVID-19.

The US death toll from the coronavirus pandemic passed 3,000 on Monday, according to the running tally compiled by the Johns Hopkins University, with more than 163,000 confirmed cases, reports AFP.

The United States has recorded 3,008 deaths, according to the tally, while its 163,429 cases are by far the highest national number ahead of Italy, Spain and China.

New York's governor issued an urgent appeal for medical volunteers Monday amid a “staggering” number of deaths from the coronavirus, as he and health officials warned that the crisis unfolding in New York City is just a preview of what other communities across the U.S. could soon face, reports news agency Associated Press.

“Please come help us in New York now,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said as the state's death toll climbed by more than 250 in a single day to a total of more than 1,200 victims, most of them in the city. He said an additional 1 million health care workers are needed to tackle the crisis.

“We've lost over 1,000 New Yorkers," Cuomo said. "To me, we're beyond staggering already. We've reached staggering.”

The UN Security Council has for the first time approved resolutions remotely after painstaking negotiations among diplomats who are teleworking due to the coronavirus pandemic, reports AFP.

The Security Council on Monday unanimously voted for four resolutions, including one that extended through April 2021 the expiring mandate of UN experts who are monitoring sanctions on North Korea, diplomats said.