New Delhi, Apr 21 (IANS): In order to combat Covid-19 and to map the spread of the virus, the government is initiating a telephonic feedback system in which calls will be made to citizens to get the status and real picture of the disease's spread.

The government will be conducting a telephonic survey calling up citizens on their mobile phones across the country.

"This is to be carried out by NIC and calls will be made to mobile phones from the calling number 1921," said a statement from the government.

With 1,336 new cases in the last 24 hours, the total number of novel coronavirus cases in India stood at 18,601 on Tuesday morning, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

The Health Ministry in its morning update said that, of the total cases, 14,759 are active and 590 people have died of the disease.

"At least 3,252 people have been cured and discharged from the hospital while one person has migrated," said the ministry, adding that there are at least 77 foreign nationals affected by the disease.

The statement said that the "calls will be coming to mobile phones from the calling number 1921 and people will be informed that it is a genuine survey and are requested to participate in good measure when a call comes in from 1921 to enable proper feedback of the prevalence and distribution of Covid symptoms."

The government has cautioned that people should be wary of any other calls by pranksters or calls from any other number in the guise of such similar survey.

The government has directed states to inform the public about the survey and to the media and tell the people about the official nature of this exercise and be aware of any other calls by pranksters or phishing attempts from any other number.