Here are the updates on the outbreak of

and the world —

Seek services of ENT specialists, resident docs: Health ministry to states, UTs

India sends rapid response team to Kuwait: Jaishankar

Fishing, aquaculture industry exempted from lockdown, says MHA

US reports highest daily virus toll as Easter opens in lockdown

With 1,035 new cases, India's total COVID-19 count at 7,529

Centre considering extending nationwide lockdown beyond April 14

Spain's daily virus toll falls again with 510 dead

92 new cases reported in Maharashtra

PM Modi holds meeting with CMs

No evidence of community transmission yet, repeats government

183 new cases in a day in Delhi, India figure tops 850

Pak to receive more medical supplies from China as coronavirus cases cross 4,700

India beats other nations in Covid response: Study

Second doctor dies in Indore, city’s mortality rate goes up to 12%

123 teams screened 15,000 to halt spread in Delhi's Dilshad Garden

Worldwide Virus Toll Crosses 1,00,000

NEW DELHI: The death toll due to coronavirus rose to 242 and the number of cases in the country climbed to 7,529 on Saturday, an increase of 768 cases in 24 hours since Friday evening, according to the Union health ministry. While the number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 6,634, as many as 652 people have been cured and discharged, and one had migrated, it said. The total number of cases include 71 foreign nationals.Across the world, the situation remained grim as the death toll from the virus crossed the 1,00,000 mark.The Union health ministry has asked all states and Union Territories to seek the services of ENT specialists and resident doctors in the fight against coronavirus, saying there is an urgent need of qualified personnel to collect samples for COVID-19 testing.In a letter addressed to all chief secretaries and principal secretaries (health), the ministry underlined that the country is in the midst of an unprecedented outbreak of COVID-19 and one of the key components of the government's strategy to combat it is contact tracing and collection of throat and swab samples of potentially infected persons."All states/UTs are therefore requested to organise collection of COVID-19 case samples by using the services of ENT specialists and residents," it said.An Indian rapid response team has reached Kuwait to provide medical assistance and train personnel in the fight against coronavirus as a follow-up to the discussion between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Kuwaiti counterpart, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday.On April 1, Prime Minister Modi and Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah talked on phone and decided that officials of the two countries would maintain regular contact to exchange information and explore avenues for cooperation.Kuwait has reported nearly 1,000 coronavirus cases.The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has exempted the operations of fishing (marine) and aquaculture industry from the lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of coronavirus, Punya Salila Srivastava, joint secretary, ministry of home affairs said on Saturday.She further added that supplies of essential services across the country remain satisfactory.The United States became the first country to report more than 2,000 coronavirus deaths in a single day, marking a grim milestone as billions around the world celebrated the Easter holiday weekend under lockdown from home.On Friday, the United States reported 2,108 new deaths, the highest daily toll out of any country since the outbreak was first reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December.With 1,035 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the total number of coronavirus cases in the country soared to 7,529, the Union health and family welfare ministry said on Saturday."There were 40 deaths during this period, taking the total toll to 242," Lav Aggarwal, joint secretary, health ministry, said.He added that as many as 642 people have been cured of COVID-19, asserting that India's response to COVID19 has been proactive.The nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 is likely to be extended beyond April 14 with the government spokesperson on Saturday saying the Centre is considering a request made by most state chief ministers in this regard during an interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi."During the video-conferencing on coronavirus in India with state CMs today, most states requested Prime Minister Modi to extend the lockdown for two more weeks. The Central Government is considering this request," government's Principal Spokesperson K S Dhatwalia tweeted.Spain registered a fall in its daily death toll from the new coronavirus for a third consecutive day on Saturday with 510 people dying, the government said.It was the smallest daily increase since March 23 in Spain, which is suffering one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in the world.92 more positive cases have been reported in Maharashtra on Saturday, taking the total number of positive coronavirus cases in the state to 1,666, the Maharashtra health department reported. The state has reported 110 deaths from the infection so far.The chief ministers of Delhi and Punjab on Saturday suggested extension of the nationwide lockdown till April 30 during a meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi had with all state chief ministers to discuss the situation arising due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to take their feedback on whether the 21-day shutdown should be extended.Modi, accompanied by some senior officials was wearing a white mask during the meeting which was also attended by chief ministers -- Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Uddhav Thackeray (Maharashtra), Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh), Manohar Lal (Haryana), K Chandrashekhar Rao (Telangana) and Nitish kumar (Bihar).The Central government is understood to have also obtained views on the issue from all the relevant agencies and stakeholders involved in the efforts to contain the spread of the pandemic.The government once again reiterated that it has found no evidence yet of any community transmission in India and that the rate of infection remains low with just 2% of 16,002 samples tested on Thursday testing positive. It also, once again, gave an assurance that the public would be informed if the coronavirus outbreak reached Stage 3 spread.The Covid-19 outbreak in India touched another peak on Friday with the number of fresh cases going past 800 for the first time in the wake of a big spike in Delhi, which reported 183 new infections, as well as surging numbers in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. The country’s overall coronavirus count topped 7,500 while the death toll rose to 258, with 26 casualties reported from various states on Friday. As many as 859 fresh cases were confirmed by states beating Thursday’s record high of 787 cases, as per numbers collated by TOI.Pakistan is set to receive more medical supplies from its all-weather ally China to fight the coronavirus outbreak in the country where the COVID-19 cases have sharply increased to 4,788 and death toll reached 71, officials said on Saturday.India fares better as compared to other countries such as the United States, Germany, Italy, Spain, South Korea and Britain in the Oxford Covid-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT).OxCGRT provides a systematic cross-national, crosstemporal measure to understand how government responses have evolved over the full period of the disease’s spread. The project tracks governments’ policies and interventions across a standardised series of indicators and creates a composite index to measure the stringency of these responses. Data is collected and updated in real time at Oxford University.Another medical practitioner died of Covid-19 in Indore on Friday. The 65-year-old was among six deaths reported in the day, which took the city’s toll to 29.In a span of a few hours, Indore’s mortality rate from Covid-19 shot up from 10% to 12% — four times the national average. The city accounts for around half of MP’s 455 coronavirus cases and 74% of its deaths.On Thursday, a doctor had died in Indore — the first medical practitioner in the state to be killed by the virus. Friday’s victim was a retired Ayush officer of Dhar district, 70km from Indore.Operation Shield Being Replicated In All Containment Zones Of Capital NowAfter seven people tested positive in northeast Delhi’s Dilshad Garden in March following the return of a woman from Saudi Arabia with Covid-19, a SHIELD — sealing, home quarantine, isolation and tracking, essential supplies, sanitation and door-to-door checking — was put in place in the area by Delhi government.Thousands of people, mostly those who had come in with suspected or positive cases, were quarantined as a part of the strategy.The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus crossed 1,00,000 as Christians around the globe marked a Good Friday unlike any other — in front of computer screens instead of in church pews — and some countries tiptoed toward reopening segments of their battered economies.