Coronavirus Outbreak Updates: As many as 228 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Bihar on Saturday, taking the total number of cases in the state to 2,394, PTI quotes the health department as saying.
Eleven municipal areas in seven states and Union Territories that have accounted for 70 percent of India's coronavirus case load were asked by the government on Saturday to step up monitoring in old cities, urban slums and other high density pockets like camps and clusters for migrant workers for management of COVID-19 cases
An employee at Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant tests positive for COVID-19, PTI quotes a company spokesperson as saying. The company is also looking at "a possibility of a second case" of infection at the facility.
A total of 248 new COVID-19 cases and seven deaths reported in Rajasthan today. The total number of positive cases in the state stands at 6,742, including 160 deaths, 3,786 recoveries and 2,796 active cases, according to the state health department.
Coronavirus cases in Ahmedabad crossed the 10,000-mark and rose to 10,001 after 277 new patients were reported on Saturday, the state health department said.
Maharashtra government has said that there is no decision to let flight operations start from Monday in the state, adding that there is no change in policy as of now and the lockdown remains the same till May 31.
"If you have taken a test and your test report is negative, following you don't have any symptoms, so I believe there should be no need for quarantine. The Arogya Setu app is like a passport, if your status on the app is green. Why should anyone want any quarantine," asks Puri.
With domestic flights scheduled to resume from next week, the Jammu and Kashmir and Goa administrations on Saturday said all inbound passengers would have to undergo a compulsory COVID-19 test and administrative quarantine till the time their report is out.
Even as medical journal The Lancet published a paper on Friday saying there were no confirmed benefits of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) being given to Covid-19 patients, the Union health ministry issued an advisory expanding the pool of people to be given the medicine as a prophylactic to prevent them from contracting the infection
The Delhi International airport authority has said that all flights, for the time being, will fly from Terminal T3. The flight services are to resume partially from 25 May.
Social media was abuzz with reports that a train which was supposed to leave Vasai Road and Reach Gorakhpur, had surprisingly reached Rourkela station in Odisha. The surprise change in route was attributed to 'driver losing the route'
India has tested over 1.15 lakh samples for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, Indian Council of Medical Research stated on Saturday.
As of Saturday till 9 am, the total number of samples tested for the novel coronavirus across the country stands at 28,34,798. The number of samples tested in the past 24 hours is 1,15,364, the ICMR said.
Rajasthan reported a total number of 6,542 confirmed cases on Friday after 48 more individuals tested positive till 9 am. The figure includes 2,695 active cases, reported the state health department.
The COVID-19 toll in the state climbed to 155 after two more individuals succumbed due to the infectious disease.
India registers highest number of 6,654 COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours, taking total confirmed cases to 1,25,101 on Saturday. After 137 individuals succumbed to the viral infection in the past 24 hours, the COVID-19 toll now stood at 3,720.
Of the total confirmed, there are 69,597 positive cases across the nation, according to the latest data released by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
An officer posted in the General Administration section of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) office in Delhi has tested COVID-19 positive.
Ashu Garg, Registrar General, NGT, confirmed on Friday about the officer testing positive for the novel coronavirus. The official had last attended office on 19 May and is presently hospitalized, he said.
As a precautionary measure, the NGT has directed all staff members, litigants, lawyers or members of the public from entering the NGT premises, which will remain sealed for deep sanitisation from 23 May.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said that all the migrant workers who have returned to the state will be provided employment, All India Radio News reported on Saturday.
Labourers returning from Delhi back to Bihar have topped the list of migrants who tested COVID-19 positive.
According to media reports, around 7 lakh migrant workers have entered the state since the end of April. The figure includes people using any mode of transportation, including Shramik Special trains.
As of Friday, 1982 individuals have tested positive for the infectious disease in the state.
Fourteen new areas were added to the list of containment zones in Delhi on Friday taking the total number of such zones to 92 in the National Capital. Till date, 34 areas have been 'de-contained' in Delhi.
As of Friday, 11,659 individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 in the National Capital. 5,567 persons have been cured while the toll is 194 in Delhi, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
India registered 6,008 new COVID-19 cases and 148 deaths across India in 24 hours while the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases rose to 1,18,447 and deaths from the novel coronavirus reached 3,583, as per data from the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
As per Centre, 48,534 patients have recovered from the deadly virus.
However, a PTI tally of figures announced by different states and union territories, as of 9.20 pm, put the nationwide tally much higher at 1,22,656, and the death toll at 3,634 and recoveries at more than 51,000.
Globally, nearly 52 lakh people have tested positive for the deadly virus ever since its emergence in China last December, while 3.3 lakh have lost their lives.
Meanwhile, the Centre on Friday asserted that the coronavirus cases count in India could have been as high as 30 lakh while up to 2.1 lakh more people could have died if the nationwide lockdown was not implemented.
Representational image. PTI.
The Centre's remarks came even as the Reserve Bank of India said that macroeconomic impact of the pandemic is turning out to be more severe than initially anticipated.
The central bank also said that beyond the destruction of economic and financial activity, livelihood and health are severely affected.
In another report, even as fears of COVID-19 spreading to the living from the dead continue, a Bombay High Court order is likely to put the discriminatory attitude towards the dead to rest with the court dismissing a bunch of petitions challenging an April circular of the Mumbai civic body designating 20 burial grounds and cemeteries in the metropolis for disposing of bodies of persons who died due to COVID-19.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice SS Shinde observed the Mumbai civic corporation has power to designate any cemetery or burial ground for disposal of bodies of COVID-19 victims and noted there was no scientific study to show that the novel coronavirus spreads through cadavers.
Meanwhile, the Central government said that it will evacuate stranded Indians from abroad till 13 June and the extended phase will cover 47 countries. The second phase of the 'Vande Bharat Mission' was to end on 22 May.
However, Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava said the ongoing phase will last till 13 June and that India is looking at making Frankfurt a hub for the mission.
As of Thursday, a total of 23,475 Indian nationals were brought back home under the mission which began on 7 May.
Cases from states
Maharashtra, the worst-hit state, reported 2,940 new cases taking its tally to 44,852. Its toll also rose to 1,517 with 63 more fatalities. This was the sixth consecutive day when the state has reported more than 2,000 new coronavirus cases.
Delhi recorded 660 cases, taking its tally to 12,319, while its death toll has now risen to 208.
Gujarat reported 363 new cases, taking its tally to 13,273, while the death of 29 patients pushed the death toll in the state to 802.
Twin brother and sister, born six days ago in Gujarat's Mehsana district, tested positive too, becoming the state's youngest patients for the viral infection.
However, a 95-year-old woman, who had earlier tested COVID-19 positive in Indore, recovered from the infection, a fortnight after her 70-year-old son had died due to suspected coronavirus infection.
Tamil Nadu, another badly hit state, reported nearly 800 new cases and its tally of confirmed cases rose to 14,753 and the death toll reached 98.
New cases were detected across various other states and UT as well, including in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
An official of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has also been found positive for the novel coronavirus, making it the first case in the federal contingency force. Officials said the Sub-Inspector rank official was on leave and had gone to a doctor for some other treatment after which his COVID-19 test was done.
A large number of new cases are being reported among people who have returned from other states in special trains for migrants and among those having come back to India in special flights being operated to bring back stranded Indians and expatriates from abroad.
Officials said Tamil Nadu government is not in favour of restarting domestic air services connecting cities in the state till this month-end and might take up the matter with the Centre.
Lockdown saved lakhs of lives, says Centre
Reeling off various studies, government officials also said up to 2.1 lakh more people could have died in India if the lockdown had not been implemented as "a timely, graded, proactive and preemptive public health measure" to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pravin Srivastava, Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation gave model-based estimates on COVID-19 cases and deaths which have been prevented due to the lockdown at a media briefing on the COVID-19 situation.
Citing a model by the Boston Consulting Group, he said the lockdown saved between 1.2-2.1 lakh lives, while the number of COVID-19 cases averted is between 36-70 lakh.
Srivastava further said the Public Health Foundation of India's model showed that nearly 78,000 lives have been saved due to the lockdown. He also cited another model by two independent economists suggesting that 23 lakh COVID-19 cases and 68,000 deaths have been averted due to the lockdown.
"We are fully confident that the lockdown, with full public cooperation, has reaped rich dividends," Srivastava added.
Recovery rate at about 41%, says health ministry
Addressing the press briefing, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said 48,534 COVID-19 patients, which is about 41 percent of the total cases, have recovered so far, while 3,234 have recovered in the last 24 hours.
He also said that the COVID-19 mortality rate has dropped from 3.13 per cent on May 19 to 3.02 per cent as focus was on containment measures and clinical management of cases.
An ICMR official said 27,55,714 tests for COVID-19 have been conducted till 1 pm Friday with 1,03,829 tests done in one day. Over 1 lakh tests for COVID-19 have been done each day for the last four days, the official said.
Paul said the number of COVID-19 cases would have risen exponentially had the lockdown not been implemented. He also said the outbreak in India has remained confined to limited areas with 80 per cent of active cases in just five states.
Besides, around 80 percent of COVID-19 deaths have been in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Delhi, Paul said.
Pune's government-run Sassoon General Hospital said that it will administer tocilizumab, a drug which has proven effective in treating the infection, on at least 25 COVID-19 patients who are in a semi-critical condition at the hospital.
"The new drug, an injection which costs around Rs 20,000, will be given to 25 patients in the first phase and depending on the results, the Pune Municipal Corporation will decide on its further use," municipal commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad said.
Delhi health care workers protest new rules
In the meantime, healthcare workers at several central and city government hospitals in Delhi sported black armbands to protest the government's decision to end the need for their quarantine after COVID-19 duty unless there has been any form of high-risk exposure.
Several hospitals in the last few days have asked their healthcare workers staying in hotels during the quarantine period to vacate rooms immediately failing which the charges paid for their overstay would be deducted from their salaries.
As per the Union health ministry guidelines issued on 15 May, healthcare workers serving in COVID-19 areas do not need to undergo quarantine unless there has been violation in the use of PPE or any other form of high-risk exposure or they have symptoms suggestive of coronavirus infection.
However, healthcare workers on the frontline have raised objections to the new guidelines.
New study hints at spike after 21 June
Meanwhile, a study by a team of researchers said India may witness COVID-19 cases peaking between June 21-28 with maximum daily positive cases to be around 7,000-7,500 in this period.
"A clear downward trend in the confirmed cases is likely to be observed each day from the second week of July," Nandadulal Bairagi, a senior professor of Jadavpur University who was involved in the project told PTI.
With inputs from PTI
