New Delhi, May 3: The coronavirus curve in India continues to surge as the number of total cases crossed the 40,000-mark on Sunday. This was the third sharpest single-day spike recorded in the last three days. In the past 24 hours, the country recorded a total of 2,487 new cases along with 83 deaths, said the second update issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday. Lockdown 3.0 Begins Tomorrow With Considerable Relaxations; Curbs to Continue in Containment Zones.

The tally of COVID-19 cases in India reached 40,263 - including 28,070 active cases, 10,886 recoveries, 1,306 deaths and one foreign national who was migrated back to the home country after being detected with coronavirus. The recovery rate in the country hovers around 26.5 percent, up from 13 percent recorded in early April.

Update by ANI

Even as the number of COVID-19 cases continue to rise, the nation is bracing for large relaxations in the lockdown from Monday. While the nationwide restrictions will continue till May 17, relaxations have been issued to allow private and government offices, along with standalone commercial shops to resume operations.

The permission to shops includes for outlets selling both essential as well as non-essential goods. The e-commerce delivery of non-essentials is permitted in orange and green zones, whereas, the red zone will see only delivery of essential products through e-commerce. Restaurants in all zones barring containment areas will be allowed to function -- only to the extent that they offer takeaways.

Globally, the pandemic has witnessed a flattening of curve in several countries including the hotspots of Iran, Spain, Italy and the United States. The number of infections and deaths, however, continue to grow with the worldwide toll of infections crossing 3.5 million, whereas, the death count accelerated to over 245,000.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 03, 2020 06:44 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).