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New Delhi, Apr 26: The total count of coronavirus cases in the country surged to 26,917 on Sunday.

The total COVID-19 cases in the country are inclusive of 5,913 cured and discharged patients, one migrated, and 826 deaths. At present, there are 20,177 active COVID-19 cases in the country.

The Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA) wrote to the Union Health Minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan, seeking assistance regarding accommodation facilities for resident doctors advised for home quarantine.

In a letter to the Health Minister, the association stated that recently there have been reports of resident doctors from various hospitals who tested positive for COVID-19. As a consequence, their primary contacts who are mostly their colleagues and resident doctors, have been advised to be on home quarantine, the association added.

On the other hand, Maharashtra continues to have the largest number of COVID-19 positive cases at 7,628 . 1,076 persons have been cured in the state while 323 persons have died.

Fresh cases have been reported several states including West Bengal, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

The total number of cases in Indore has risen to 1,176, including 57 deaths.

While 133 deaths have been reported from Gujarat where the total number of cases spiked up to 3,071.

Kerala has seen a recovery rate of around 74 per cent as 338 out of the total 457 COVID-19 positive patients recovered in the state with only 4 fatalities.

Delhi has seen 2,625 COVID-19 positive cases and 54 deaths due to the pandemic.

Here's a quick read on the COVID-19 related updates:

1. A five-member Central team visited Telangana Director General of Police (DGP) office here on Sunday, to review the law and order situation in the state and oversee how the state police are ensuring the implementation of the lockdown.

2. Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) Chandigarh and AIIMS Delhi and Bhopal will study the effectiveness of Mycobacterium w in critical COVID-19 patients.

3. Chandigarh-based Post- Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) said that it has assessed the safety of mycobacterial w (Mw), an immunomodulator for leprosy, in four hospitalised patients of COVID-19, and has found no short-term adverse effect.

4. As many as 2,189 cases were lodged and 10,062 people have been arrested so far, for the breach of lockdown norms in Uttarakhand.

5. The Delhi High Court has directed that COVID-19 related tests should be made available to the general public at the lowest cost possible as the country is going through an unprecedented medical crisis affecting public order.

6. Bihar government has ordered two automatic RNA extraction machines, said the Principal Secretary of Health, Sanjay Kumar today.

7. Medical services at Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital in the Jahangirpuri area have been closed and the hospital is being sanitised after 44 staff members including doctors were tested positive for COVID-19, Delhi Health Department said.

8. In order to support the frontline workers in the fight against COVID-19, Samsung and Google will be offering free phone repairs to health care workers and first responders.

9. Bhopal Division of Indian Railways has converted 74 railways coaches into isolation wards, said Sunil Dhingra, Senior Section Engineer of Bhopal Division.

10. Indian High Commission here on Sunday said two Air India and one Blue Dart flights will send about 78 tonnes of cargo to India as part of the 1 million PPE kits being sourced from Singapore-based company.

New Delhi, Mar 3: A day after two new cases of novel coronavirus that included one from Delhi were reported, the Health Ministry on Tuesday said six cases with "high-viral load" were detected during sample testing in Agra and these people have been kept in isolation. The six people had come in contact with a 45-year-old patient from Delhi, whose case came to light on Monday, and they include his family members.

According to government sources, the man, who is a resident of Mayur Vihar, had visited them in Agra.

The six have been kept in isolation at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi and their samples are being sent to NIV, Pune for confirmation.

Contact tracing of the people who came in contact with the six is simultaneously being done through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP) network, the ministry said in a statement.

Sources said the patient from Mayur Vihar was shifted to a quarantine ward at Safdarjung Hospital on Sunday night.

His other family members have been asked to stay alert and look out for symptoms. One accountant, who came in contact with the man and some of his family members, was also quarantined, they said.

India on Monday reported two new cases of the novel coronavirus, one from Delhi and another one from Hyderabad. The government has stepped up its efforts to detect and check the infection which has killed 2,912 people in China.

On Monday, Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma had said that an Italian tourist tested positive for coronavirus in Jaipur.

The first sample collected from him on February 29 tested negative but his condition deteriorated, so a second sample was collected which tested positive on Monday, the minister said, adding, "Since there is a variation in the reports, the samples have been sent to the NIV, Pune for testing".

India had earlier reported three cases from Kerala, including two medical students from Wuhan in China, the epicentre of the deadly novel coronavirus. They had self-reported on their return to the country and tested positive for the infection. They were discharged from hospitals last month following recovery.

The infected person from Delhi had travelled to Italy, while the other patient who tested positive for the COVID-19 infection is from Telangana and had recently travelled to Dubai.

Both the patients had self-reported after they developed symptoms.

"They tested positive. They are stable and being closely monitored," ministry said on Monday.

The government has asked people to avoid non-essential travel to Iran, Italy, South Korea and Singapore and said India was in discussions with authorities in Iran and Italy, two countries badly affected by the infection, to evacuate Indians there.

The novel coronavirus or COVID-19, which originated in China, has spread to over 60 countries.

Those owning a single house in joint names would continue to file their income tax returns (ITRs) in much simpler ITR-1 (Sahaj) and ITR-4 forms (Sugam) for assessment year 2020-21 with the government issuing a clarification in this regard.

The clarification has come days after the government modified the eligibility for filing the returns in ITR-1 and ITR-4, stating that those owning a property jointly, spending Rs 2 lakh on foreign travel and paying electricity bill of Rs 1 lakh in a year would not be able to file returns in the simpler forms.

They would have to file their returns with much more detailed information in other specified forms.

Following the changes in the eligibility for filing returns in the two forms, concerns were raised over it with taxpayers claiming that it will cause huge hardship for them.

"The matter has been examined and it has been decided to allow a person, who jointly owns a single house property, to file his/her return of income in ITR-1 or ITR-4 Form, as may be applicable, if he/she meets the other conditions," a Finance Ministry statement said.

"It has also been decided to allow a person, who is required to file return due to fulfilment of one or more conditions specified in the seventh proviso to section 139(1) of the Act, to file his/her return in ITR-1 Form," it added.

Tax practitioners welcomed the government’s move of going back to the previous position.

"This is a welcome clarification allowing middle class taxpayers owning a single house property to file simpler ITR forms, 1 and 4, and not the detailed ITR forms even if they own house property in joint names," said Shailesh Kumar, Director, Nangia Andersen Consulting.

It may be noted that taxpayers holding multiple house properties would have to file more detailed return forms.

In the major changes notified earlier this month by the Income-Tax department, individual taxpayers were disallowed to file return either in ITR-1 or ITR 4 if he or she was a joint-owner in house property.

In another change, those who deposited more than Rs 1 crore in bank account or spent Rs 2 lakh on foreign travel or paid Rs 1 lakh on electricity bill in a financial year were also barred from using the easy-to-fill return forms.

"By today's clarification, the government has maintained status quo. Now, the taxpayers can continue filing their returns in the same fashion in which they did last year," said Naveen Wadhwa, Deputy General Manager (DGM), Taxmann.