NEW DELHI: The number of coronavirus cases in India has climbed to 14,378, which includes 480 deaths, Union Health Ministry said today, adding that 991 new cases and 43 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

The doubling rate of COVID-19 cases has dropped to 6.2 days from three days before a countrywide lockdown was imposed, the government said on Friday. The decline is the result of increased testing, including that of patients suffering from SARI (severe acute respiratory illness) and ILI (influenza-like illness), the government added. India is under a lockdown till May 3 to check the spread of the highly infectious illness, which has killed over 1.5 lakh people across the world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced earlier this week.

In Mumbai's Dharavi - Asia's largest slum - the number of coronavirus cases has crossed the 100-mark. Fifteen new cases were reported on Friday, which takes the total to 101. The city, with 2,073 coronavirus cases, is the worst affected city in the country; Maharashtra is the worst hit state. The city of 1.2 crore has been under a complete lockdown since the last month.

The recovery rate that indicates the number of people who have successfully fought off the illness is improving, Union Health Ministry has said. The rate stood at 13.85 per cent this morning, an improvement over 13.06 per cent on Friday, Thursday's 12.02 per cent, Wednesday's 11.41 per cent and Tuesday's 9.99 per cent. On Friday, 260 patients were declared cured from COVID-19 and discharged from hospitals. On Thursday, 183 were discharged from hospitals after they recovered.

Indian scientists are testing a multi-purpose vaccine that has proven to be effective against leprosy and boosts immunity in hosts to see if it can help tackle the coronavirus, the chief of country's largest public-funded research institution told NDTV on Friday. "With the approval of the DCGI (Drug Controller General of India), we have begun tests on the MW vaccine that has been successfully used against leprosy," Dr Shekhar Mande, Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), said.