COVID-19 death toll rises to 590 in country; number of cases climb to 18,601: Health Ministry
New Delhi: The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 590 and the number of cases climbed to 18,601 on Tuesday, according to the Union health ministry.
The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 14,759 while 3,251 people have been cured and discharged, and one patient has migrated, the ministry said. The total number of cases includes 77 foreign nationals.
A total of 31 deaths were reported since Monday evening -- 11 fatalities were reported from Rajasthan, nine from Maharashtra, four from Gujarat, two each from Delhi, Telengana and Tamil Nadu and one from Uttar Pradesh.
Of the 590 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 232 fatalities, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 74, Gujarat at 71, Delhi at 47, Rajasthan at 25, Telengana at 23 and Andhra Pradesh at 20.
The death toll reached 18 in Uttar Pradesh while Tamil Nadu has reported 17 deaths so far. Punjab and Karnataka have registered 16 deaths each. West Bengal has reported 12 fatalities.
The disease has claimed five lives in Jammu and Kashmir, while Kerala and Haryana have recorded three COVID-19 deaths each.
Jharkhand and Bihar have reported two deaths each, while Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Assam have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry's data updated in the morning.
The data stated that the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 4,666 followed by Delhi at 2,081, Gujarat at 1,939, Rajasthan at 1, 576, Tamil Nadu at 1,520 and Madhya Pradesh at 1,485.
The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 1,184 in Uttar Pradesh, 873 in Telangana and 722 in Andhra Pradesh. Kerala and Karnataka have reported 408 cases each.
The number of cases has risen to 392 in West Bengal, 368 in Jammu and Kashmir, 254 in Haryana and 245 in Punjab.
Bihar has reported 113 coronavirus cases, while Odisha has 74 such cases. Forty-six people have been infected with the virus in Uttarakhand and Jharkhand each.
Himachal Pradesh has 39 cases, Chhattisgarh has 36 while Assam has registered 35 infections so far. Chandigarh has 26 COVID-19 cases, Ladakh 18, while 16 cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Meghalaya has reported 11 cases, while Goa and Puducherry have seven COVID-19 cases each. Manipur and Tripura have two cases each, while Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have reported a case each.
"Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR," the ministry said on its website.
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Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve last year's trade deal or it will face higher tariffs
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump has said in a social media post that goods from the European Union would face higher tariff rates if the 27-member bloc fails to approve last year's trade framework by July 4.
The announcement on Thursday appeared to be a deadline extension after the president said last Friday that EU autos would face a higher 25 per cent tariff starting this week. Trump made the updated announcement after what he described as a "great call" with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Still, the US president was displeased that the European Parliament had yet to finalize the trade arrangement reached last year, which was further complicated in February by the US Supreme Court ruling that Trump lacked the legal authority to declare an economic emergency to impose the initial tariffs used to pressure the EU into talks.
"A promise was made that the EU would deliver their side of the Deal and, as per Agreement, cut their Tariffs to ZERO!" Trump posted. "I agreed to give her until our Country's 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels."
It was unclear from the post whether Trump was implying that the tariff rates would jump on all EU goods or the increase would only apply to autos.
His latest statement indicates he might be backing away from his earlier threat on EU autos by giving the European Parliament several more weeks to approve the agreement.
Under the original terms of the framework, the US would charge a 15 per cent tax on most goods imported from the EU.
But since the Supreme Court ruling, the administration has levied a 10 per cent tariff while investigating trade imbalances and national security issues, aiming to put in new tariffs to make up for lost revenues.
