India’s coronavirus cases near 60,000, recovery rate almost 30%
India’s coronavirus cases continued to rise by over 3,000 as the total cases came close to 60,000 mark on Saturday with the recovery rate improving marginally to almost 30 per cent.
With 3,320 new coronavirus cases, total count was 59,662 on Saturday. Active cases stood at 39,834 and the number of cured/discharged/migrated at 17,847. With 95 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the total fatalities stood at 1,981. Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said on Saturday that there is no need to anticipate worst case situation with regard to COVID-19 pandemic in India like in some developed countries.
“Our fatality rate in the country continues to be around 3.3 per cent and the recovery rate has climbed up to 29.9 per cent, these are very good indicators. The doubling rate for the last 3 days has been about 11 days, for last 7 days it has been 9.9 days,” he said.
“We have dedicated 843 hospitals exclusively for COVID-19 patients which have about 1,65,991 beds. Across the country, there are 1, 991 dedicated COVID-19 health centres which have 1, 35, 643 beds. These beds include isolation as well as ICU beds,” he added.
A total of 32.76 lakhs PPEs have been distributed to state governments by the centre, the Minister said. The minister held a meeting with Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim to review the status of COVID-19 in the north-eastern states along with the measures being taken for its containment and management.
He said only Assam and Tripura have active COVID-19 cases and the other states are all in the green zone.
He advised the states to ensure that the returning migrant labourers, students and those returning from abroad should be screened and quarantined as per the guidelines and laid down protocol.
The minister said that testing capacity has increased in the country and it is 95,000 tests per day. . Cumulatively, 15,25,631 tests have been done so far for COVID-19.
Maharashtra continues to remain the worst-hit state with 19,063 cases, almost a third of that in the country. Gujarat has 7,402 cases and Delhi 6,318.
As many as 714 police officials have tested positive for COVID-19 in Maharashtra, including 648 active cases.
The Delhi government on Saturday declared three more private hospitals for admitting COVID-19 patients. Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, Saroj Medical Institute, Rohini Sector-19, and Khushi Hospital, Dwarka, with 50 isolation beds each, have been declared as COVID hospitals by the Delhi government for “admitting confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 on payment basis.”
The Health Ministry on Saturday issued revised discharge policy for COVID-19 patients. It said that mild/very mild/pre-symptomatic cases admitted to a COVID care facility will undergo regular temperature and pulse oximetry monitoring. The patient can be discharged after 10 days of symptom onset and no fever for 3 days in such cases. There will be no need for testing prior to discharge.
Patients on oxygenation, whose fever does not get resolved within 3 days and demand of oxygen therapy continue, will be discharged only after resolution of clinical symptoms and their ability to maintain oxygen saturation for three consecutive days.
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel on Saturday held a meeting with AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria and Dr Manish Suneja and discussed COVID-19 situation.
Stranded Indians continued to be repatriated from abroad as part of Vande Bharat Mission.
Here are top COVID-19 related updates of the day from the country:
1. Home Ministry today granted permission for opening of 3000 CBSE affiliated schools as assessment centres across India to facilitate evaluation of answer sheets of CBSE board exams.
2.Tamil Nadu government has constituted a high-level committee, headed by Dr C Rangarajan, former Reserve Bank of India Governor, to assess the overall immediate and medium-term impact of COVID-19 on the state’s economy, including the impact of the lockdown imposed to prevent spread of the deadly virus.
3. Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has assured the Retailers Association of India and Practicing Engineers, Architects and Town Planners Association (India) that their request for registering as MSMEs will be examined expeditiously. He felt that this need to be explored from the point of these bodies being employment creators and whether various benefits such as insurance, medical, pension can be provided to workers.
4. With 13 new cases reported in the last 24 hours in Jammu and Kashmir, the total number of positive coronavirus cases stands at 836.
5. Six Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel have tested positive for COVID-19. Till now, a total of 100 personnel (all in Delhi) have tested positive.
6. With 41 new cases of COVID-19 reported on Saturday, the total number of positive cases in Karnataka has reached 794.
7. Tamil Nadu government on Saturday announced major relaxations during the lockdown which will come into effect from May 11 onwards. According to the announcement, essential supply shops will be allowed to function from 6 am to 7 pm, while stand-alone and neighbourhood shops can function from 10:30 am to 6 pm in the state capital. Private establishments will also be allowed to resume work with 33 per cent capacity between 10:30 am to 6 pm from Monday.
8. Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has said that more than 1500 health care assistants, who have been trained under skill development programme of the ministry, were assisting in treatment coronavirus patients. Naqvi said 16 Haj Houses across the country have been given to state governments for quarantine and isolation facilities for coronavirus-affected people.
9. Maharashtra Education Department has said that there will be no hike in school fee for this academic year 2020-21, in the state.
10. Thirteen more personnel of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) tested positive for coronavirus on Saturday, taking the total number of CISF personnel who are infected with the deadly virus to 48. CISF personnel are among the frontline warriors against COVID-19.
