With the nationwide lockdown set to end on May 3, the Government has said that new guidelines to contain coronavirus will come into effect from May 4, which shall give considerable relaxations to many districts. With over 1,000 fresh cases reported since Wednesday evening, the COVID-19 tally in India crossed the 33,000 mark to stand at 33,050 on Thursday with as many as 1,074 fatalities

Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday held a comprehensive review meeting on the lockdown situation and observed that there have been tremendous gains and improvement in the coronavirus situation due to the shutdown till now. The government noted that to ensure that these gains are not squandered away, the lockdown guidelines need to be strictly observed till May 3.

Congress leader and member of parliament Rahul Gandhi on Thursday had a discussion with former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan on the current crisis.  “India can help mould dialogue post-pandemic to make space for multi-polar global order. There will have to be rethinking on everything in global economy once we are out of this pandemic,” Rajan told the Congress leader.

A conversation with Dr Raghuram Rajan, former RBI Governor, on dealing with the #Covid19 crisis. https://t.co/cdJtJ7ax0T

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 30, 2020

Globally, the official death toll reached 227,644, and at least 3,193,961 people have been infected worldwide according to Johns Hopkins University data.

South Korea reported no new domestic coronavirus cases on Thursday for the first time since its 29 February peak, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Meanwhile US President Donald Trump continues to attack China as he said said that coronavirus has “upset very badly” the US trade deal with China, and that China “will do anything they can to have me lose in 2020.”Trump does not see the 2020 election as being a referendum on his handling of the pandemic, he said. Trump has said the federal government will not be extending its coronavirus social distancing guidelines once they expire on Thursday. Meanwhile, the number of Americans who have died of coronavirus surpassed 60,000, a toll far higher than any other country.