india

Updated: Apr 22, 2020 18:38 IST

India’s total number of coronavirus cases breached the 20,000 mark and climbed to 20,471on Wednesday with the number of deaths at 652, according to data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Earlier, India had breached the 10,000-mark on April 14, and currently has 15,859 active cases and 3,959 coronavirus patients who have been cured and discharged so far.

Maharashtra, which is the worst-affected state with the maximum number of Covid-19 patients, has reported 6,191 cases of the coronavirus disease, including 722 discharges and 251 deaths.

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Gujarat is now the second-worst hit state with 2,178 active cases and Delhi follows with 2,156 number of people infected with the deadly disease.

After multiple reports of attacks on frontline workers, the Centre on Wednesday asked all states and union territories to provide adequate security to doctors and health workers who are facing attacks from unruly crowds.

The Centre on Wednesday approved an ordinance to amend the Epidemic Diseases Act making attacks on doctors and health workers a cognizable and non-bailable offence and introducing stringent provisions ranging from imprisonment up to seven years to hefty penalties.

The decision comes after a spate of incidents where doctors and medical professionals were attacked in different localities across states and their vehicles damaged as they battled the Covid -19 disease.

Information and Broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar said the decision was taken in a meeting headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as such offences will not be tolerated in a civilized society. It has also been decided that investigation into such offences will be completed in 30 days.