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Coronavirus Outbreak LATEST Updates: The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Tuesday exempted constitutional and government functionaries and their staff members travelling across states on official work from the requirement of 7-day home quarantine, if they are asymptomatic, ANI reported. Coronavirus cases in Tamil Nadu, one of the worst-affected states, touched 48,000 on Tuesday after 1,515 new cases were reported. “Chennai recorded 919 cases today, taking its tally to 34,245. With 49 deaths, the death toll rises in the state to 528. A total of 1,438 persons got discharged today while there are 20,706 active cases in the state,” The Indian Express reported. Around 300 COVID-19 care isolation coaches will be placed on Tuesday at Delhi’s Anand Vihar Terminal by the Centre in view of rise in COVID-19 cases. Northern Railways CPRO says “Only, people with mild symptoms will be kept here. Management of coach and patient will be done by the state.” The Uttar Pradesh government said that 516 new cases of coronavirus were recorded in the state in last 24 hours, taking total number of active cases to 5,259. A total of 8,904 people (61% recover rate) have recovered while 435 others lost their lives due to the disease," said Principal Health Secretary Amit Mohan Prasad. During the past 24 hours, 10,215 COVID-19 patients were cured, taking the total to 1,80,012, the health ministry said on Tuesday. The recovery rate rises to 52.47 percent, which is indicative of the fact that more than half of positive cases have recovered from the disease, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. More than 55,000 recoveries of COVID-19 patients were reported in Maharashtra, exceeding the total active cases in the state on Monday. While the count of recovered patients reached 56,049, the active cases were 50,554, according to the state health department. The recovery of over 5,000 patients also reduced the number of active cases in the state from 53,017 (on Sunday) to 50,554, despite 2,786 fresh cases being recorded on Monday. At present, the COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 50.61% in the state, at par with the national average recovery rate. The COVID-19 recovery rate was high while fatalities were low in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister E Palaniswami said in Chennai on Tuesday. In view of a slew of anti-COVID-19 initiatives being taken by the government, the recovery rate was high, he said adding adequate relief was also being provided to the poor people. The students of Class 10 and 12 of CICSE board can choose not to appear for pending exams and be marked as per their performance in pre-board exams or internal assessment, according to top officials. The board had also submitted the proposal before the Bombay High Court on Monday in response to a petition filed by a parent seeking directions to the authorities to cancel exams in view of the spike in COVID-19 cases. According to Gerry Arathoon, Chief Executive and Secretary, Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), the students will have to communicate their option to their respective schools by 22 June. The exams which were postponed due to the lockdown to contain spread of coronavirus, are now scheduled to be conducted from 1 to 14 July. However, several parents have been demanding the exams be scrapped. Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa said there is no need for another coronavirus lockdown in the state. He said he would ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help in acceleration of economic activities. Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district reported its first coronavirus death on Monday. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday said he has been hospitalised here after running high-grade fever and suffering a sudden drop in his oxygen level. The 55-year-old minister has been tested for COVID-19, an official said. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a potshot at the Gujarat government, which recorded the highest COVID-19 mortality rate at 6.25 percent, a double of what Maharashtra has registered. Quoting figures from a BBC article, Rahul tweeted saying, “Gujarat Model exposed.” Citing reasons like people reporting late to hospitals, lack of trust in the quality of healthcare facilities, low levels of testing in backward areas, the BBC pointed out why Gujarat recorded a high mortality rate. Two more deaths of members of Maharashtra Police personnel took the toll in the force to 42 on Tuesday. The total number of coronavirus cases climbed to 3,626 after 11 more tested positive for COVID-19, said the Maharashtra Police. The COVID-19 recovery was at 60.3 percent after 2,187 cops were cured of the infectious disease. Congress leader Sonia Gandhi hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the “ill-advised and insensitive” hike in fuel prices during the COVID-19 crisis. In a letter to the prime minister, she said, “It’s duty and responsibility of the government to alleviate suffering, not put the people to still greater hardship. Government doing nothing short of profiteering off its people when they are down and out,” amid the coronavirus outbreak. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain has been admitted to the National Capital’s Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH) due to high fever and breathing trouble. He will be tested for coronavirus on Tuesday. In a tweet this morning, the 55-year-old AAP leader said: “Due to high grade fever and a sudden drop of my oxygen levels last night I have been admitted to RGSSH. Will keep everyone updated (sic)”. In the past 24 hours, India registered 10,667 fresh COVID-19 cases and 380 deaths. The total number of positive cases in the country stood at 3,43,091, according to the latest data released by the health ministry on Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet the chief ministers for over two days - Tuesday and Wednesday - to discuss the COVID-19 situation in the wake of rapidly spreading coronavirus disease. On Tuesday afternoon, Modi will hold a video-conference with chief ministers, Lieutenant Governors and administrators of 21 states and union territories. These include Punjab, Kerala, Goa, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and the North-Eastern states. India saw a jump of over 11,000 novel coronavirus cases for the third consecutive day on Monday, taking the total number of infections to over 3.32 lakh, while the toll rose to 9,520 with 325 more deaths, the Union Health Ministry said. There are 1,53,106 active cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), while 1,69,797 people have recovered and a patient has migrated, according to the ministry’s data updated in the morning. The number of confirmed cases rose to 3,32,424 with 11,502 new infections in the last 24 hours, the ministry said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to interact with chief ministers of states and representatives of Union Territories on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss ways to check the pandemic as a phased lockdown exit continues across the country.
State-wise cases and deaths
As many as 120 out of the 325 more deaths were from Maharashtra, followed by 56 from Delhi, 38 from Tamil Nadu and 29 in Gujarat. There were 14 more fatalities in Uttar Pradesh, 12 each in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, and 10 each in Rajasthan and Haryana. [caption id=“attachment_8486841” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Representational image. AP[/caption] Five COVID-19 deaths were reported from Karnataka, followed by four in Jammu and Kashmir, three each in Telangana and Puducherry, and two each in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Punjab. A person each succumbed to the infection in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha. India is the fourth worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the US, Brazil and Russia. According to the Johns Hopkins University, which has been compiling COVID-19 data from all over the world, India is in the ninth position in terms of death toll. Of the total 9,520 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 3,950 fatalities, followed 1,477 by Gujarat and 1,327 in Delhi. The toll from the pandemic rose to 475 in West Bengal, 459 in Madhya Pradesh, 435 in Tamil Nadu and 399 in Uttar Pradesh. There have been 292 COVID-19 deaths in Rajasthan and 185 in Telangana. The number of fatalities reached 88 in Haryana, 86 in Karnataka, 84 in Andhra Pradesh, and 67 in Punjab. Jammu and Kashmir has reported 59 COVID-19 deaths, followed by 39 in Bihar, 24 in Uttarakhand and 19 in Kerala. Odisha registered 11 coronavirus deaths so far, followed by eight each in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Assam, and seven in Himachal Pradesh. Five people have succumbed to the contagion in Chandigarh and Puducherry, and one each in Meghalaya, Tripura and Ladakh, the ministry said. More than 70 percent of the deaths are due to comorbidities, it added. The maximum number of cases are from Maharashtra with 1,07,958 infections, followed by 44,661 in Tamil Nadu, 41,182 in Delhi and 23,544 in Gujarat. The tally rose to 13,615 in Uttar Pradesh, 12,694 in Rajasthan and 11,087 in West Bengal. The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 10,802 in Madhya Pradesh, 7,208 in Haryana, 7,000 in Karnataka, and 6,470 in Bihar. As many as 6,163 people have contracted the deadly disease in Andhra Pradesh, followed by 5,041 in Jammu and Kashmir, 4,974 in Telangana, 4,049 in Assam and 3,909 in Odisha. There are 3,140 cases of the pathogen in Punjab and 2,461 in Kerala, while 1,819 people have been infected in Uttarakhand and 1,745 in Jharkhand. A total of 1,662 people are afflicted with the disease in Chhattisgarh, followed by 1,076 in Tripura, 564 in Goa and 518 in Himachal Pradesh. The number of coronavirus cases rose to 458 in Manipur, 549 in Ladakh and 352 in Chandigarh. Puducherry has registered 194 COVID-19 cases so far, followed by 168 in Nagaland, 112 in Mizoram and 91 in Arunachal Pradesh. Sikkim has 68 COVID-19 cases, while there are 44 infections in Meghalaya and 38 in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Dadar and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu have registered 36 COVID-19 cases so far.
Administrative measures
In Telangana, the state government allowed private labs to conduct COVID-19 tests, while fixing the charges at Rs 2,200. It also fixed the fees for treatment in private hospitals. The Karnataka government also said private hospitals would be roped in to treat COVID-19 patients and uniform rates across the state would be fixed for everything from testing to treatment at those institutions. Maharashtra, the worst-hit state, announced that classes for 9-12 standards would begin from July 1, except for in the red zone areas, while classes for 6-8 standards would begin in August. The state also saw suburban train services in Mumbai, known as the city’s lifeline, resuming after nearly three months, but only for ferrying people engaged in essential services.
EMU train services for essential service staff, as identified by State Govt, has resumed in Mumbai suburban today after a gap of 85 days
— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) June 15, 2020
Systematic access control and social distancing being ensured
These special suburban services will not be available for general passengers pic.twitter.com/VgDRbcu3yx
In Delhi, the number of COVID-19 tests would be increased to 18,000 per day from 20 June, the ruling AAP and the main Opposition party in the Delhi BJP said after an all-party meeting held by Union home minister Amit Shah. Besides, necessary equipment like oxygen cylinders, ventilators and pulse oximeters for treatment of COVID-19 patients will be provided by the Centre to Delhi and 37,000 beds will be arranged by the month-end for patients in Delhi. Nearly 5,000 tests per day are estimated to be done at present in Delhi, which recorded 1,647 new cases to take its tally to close to 43,000 while the death toll rose past 1,400. The Delhi government has also directed all laboratories and hospitals to work on their full potential, ramp up their COVID-19 testing capacity to meet the increased demand of processing samples and process the samples within 48 hours. Delhi’s Health Minister Satyendar Jain said laboratory facilities under the Centre in the national capital are being extended to the city government.
Centre asks states to augment healthcare infrastructure
Amid reports of shortage of healthcare infrastructure, the Centre has asked states and Union Territories to engage with the private sector for augmenting such infrastructure and provisioning critical care at reasonable rates. There have been several reports indicating an emerging shortage of healthcare infrastructure, including hospitals with ICU beds, ventilators and oxygen-supported beds, for management of COVID-19 patients, the health ministry said. There have also been reports of overcharging by healthcare providers for COVID-19 treatment, it said in a statement. The ministry has asked the states and UTs to engage with the private healthcare providers to facilitate enhanced bed availability and critical care health facilities as well as to ensure fair and transparent charges for services provided. In this regard, some states have already taken an initiative and have reached an agreement with the private sector on reasonable rates and arrangements to provide critical care for in-patient admissions. PMJAY package and CGHS package rates are already available with the states and the rates of CGHS are fixed area wise, the statement said. In order to ensure that patients receive prompt, good quality and care at reasonable rates, it has been suggested to states to have consultations with the local private healthcare providers and arrive at reasonable rates, while factoring in cost elements for personal safety equipment for healthcare providers, the ministry said. It has been suggested that the rates, once fixed, must be widely publicised so that both the patients and service providers are fully aware and capacities are used optimally, it said. States have also been asked to proactively engage with the private sector health providers and consider pooling in public and private healthcare facilities, as this will help in providing prompt, good quality and reasonable health care to COVID-19 patients, the ministry said. With inputs from PTI
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