Confirmed! Coronavirus lockdown extended till May 31 - All details here

In a major development, coronavirus lockdown has been extended till May 31. According to a latest news alert by news agency PTI, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has confirmed that lockdown has been extended to contain spread of COVID-19, and fresh guidelines to be issued.

Earlier, in a televised address to the nation, PM Narendra Modi had said there will be a fourth phase of the lockdown which will be very different from the earlier three phases. The third phase of the lockdown was scheduled to end on May 17.

The prime minister's address to the nation came a day after he held a marathon six-hour meeting with chief ministers on the road ahead after May 17 when the 54-day nationwide lockdown is due to end.

During their interaction with Modi on Monday, several chief ministers favoured extending the lockdown while a number of others pitched for allowing economic activities to resume to provide relief to millions of poor hit by the stringent measure.

Meanwhile, the death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 2,872 and the number of total positive cases climbed to 90,927 Sunday morning, registering an increase of 120 fatalities and a record jump of 4,987 new cases in 24 hours, since 8 AM Saturday, according to the Union Health Ministry.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stands at 53,946, while 34,108 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said. "Thus, around 37.51 per cent patients have recovered so far," a senior health ministry official said.

Three states have reported over 10,000 cases so far with Maharashtra being the worst hit at 30,706 infections, followed by Gujarat (10,988) and Tamil Nadu 10,585.

The total confirmed cases include foreign nationals too who were tested in India.