India will stand together in fight against COVID-19: Kerala CM

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday said that India would stand together "in the battle" against the novel coronavirus, which has claimed over 200 lives in the country and has infected over 7,400 people.

"Attended a video conferencing session with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chief Ministers of other Indian States. We had a comprehensive discussion on the COVID-19 situation. India will stand together in this battle against the pandemic," Pinarayi Vijayan wrote on Twitter.

This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a video conferencing meeting, earlier today, with the chief minister of different states, over the COVID-19 situation and lockdown imposed to prevent the spread.

The 21-days lockdown, which was announced by the Prime Minister was slated to end on April 14.

Soon after the meeting, the government's principal spokesperson KS Dhatwalia said the Centre is considering the request made by several Chief Ministers to extend the three-week countrywide lockdown.

With 40 deaths and 1,035 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, India on Saturday witnessed the sharpest ever increase in coronavirus cases, taking the tally of the infected people in the country to 7,447, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's bulletin on Saturday morning.

( With inputs from ANI )