In a statement, the Ministry said: "So far, a total of 10,632 people have been cured. This takes our total recovery rate to 26.59 per cent. The total number of confirmed cases is now 39,980. Since yesterday, an increase of 2,644 has been noted in the number of Covid-19 confirmed cases in India."

It also said that Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan visited Lady Hardinge Medical College to review the status of Covid-19 management, where he told the media that the recovery rate had improved.

"The recovery rate of Covid-19 patients has steadily increased which shows that more and more of these patients are getting better and going back to their homes. Till now around 10,000 Covid patients have recovered and have joined their normal life. Majority of patients in other hospitals are also on the road to recovery. It reflects the quality of care provided by our frontline health workers in India. It is heartening to see the high morale of our health warriors in these testing times," he said.

Harsh Vardhan also said that continuously observing discipline during Lockdown 3.0 would reap rich dividends in the ultimate fight against Covid-19.

Talking about opening up of the various activities, he said: "Slowly and gradually the economic activities would be opened up one by one. There is detailed planning according to which various industries like drug, pharmaceuticals etc. are being assisted to return back to normalcy as soon as possible."

During his visit, the Minister went around the Director's office, emergency, OPD, sampling centre, COVID block - the critical areas on ground and first floor, red zone area and changing facility for doctors and health workers.

Harsh Vardhan also stated that the prevention, containment and management of Covid-19 in the country is being monitored regularly at the highest levels in collaboration with the states.

"The rate of growth of new cases has also been steadying for a while. As per the data received today, for the past three days, the doubling rate is 12.0, for seven days, 11.7 and for 14 days, it is 10.4."

He also said: "We need to adhere to strict physical distancing and basic hand hygiene etiquettes properly to take lockdown 3.0 to a logical end."

The ministry said that Harsh Vardhan has urged the people of the country to observe the extended period of lockdown 3.0 (till May 17, 2020) in letter and spirit and treat it as an effective intervention to cut down the chain of transmission of Covid-19.

He urged the countrymen not to ostracize the doctors treating Covid-19 patients and to not stigmatize the patients who have won the battle against the disease.

The Health Minister said: "We have crossed over 10 lakh tests till date and are performing over 74,000 tests in a day presently."

He further said that the government has distributed around 20 lakh PPE kits all over India and supplied medicines (both Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and Paracetamol (PCM)) to more than 100 countries world over. He informed that India is on a better footing as compared to other countries and is capable to pull off any eventuality with more than 2.5 lakh beds in dedicated Covid hospitals and Covid health centres all over the country.