AGARTALA, April 10 (TIWN): The total number of Covid-19 infections in India crossed the 6,000-mark as the country entered day 17 of the three-week lockdown.

India added 678 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours taking the total tally to 6,412, according to the health ministry’s update at 8:00 am. That includes 504 people cured or discharged and 199 deaths.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is now facing the tough choice of whether to extend the lockdown, which has put millions of people out of work, beyond April 14 or not. Several state governments have favoured extending the lockdown. Odisha is the only state to have actually extended it till April 30.

Meanwhile, authorities in hotspots continued to enforce stricter measures by sealing settlements, lanes and apartments completely.

Globally, cases crossed 1.6 million leaving over 96,000 dead. While deaths are now slowing in parts of Europe, they are still accelerating in the U.S., which is on track to overtake Italy’s death toll in the coming days.