Situation improving in hotspots: Govt; Maharashtra, Gujarat, MP, Delhi soar count
The coronavirus spread followed the familiar growth trajectory on Sunday with Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi contributing majority of the new positive case and deaths while bigger number of cases have also started coming from less affected States like West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand.
However as a good news, Union Health Ministry officials said the recovery rate of coronavirus patients in the country has jumped to 22 per cent, an increase of 10 percentage points from the rate of 12 per cent recorded till 10 days ago, in a sign that India’s battle against the virus is heading in the right direction.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Sunday said the coronavirus situation in the country is improving as many hotspot districts (HSD) are moving towards being non-hotspot districts (NHSD).
Indian on Sunday recorded 1,603 new cases raising the total coronavirus cases to 27,886, including 6,523 recovered cases and 880 deaths. 55 died on Sunday.
However, according to the Health Ministry, India recorded 1,975 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours till Sunday evening.
The Minister had visited All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Trauma Centre in Delhi to take stock of the preparedness to overcome Civid-19, a statement from the Ministry said. After a detailed review, Vardhan appreciated AIIMS for ensuring 24X7 monitoring of Covid-19 confirmed and suspected patients using digital platforms, video and voice call technologies.
“Through a graded, pre-emptive and pro-active approach, the Government is taking several steps along with the States/UTs for prevention, containment and management of Covid-19. These are being regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level,” the Ministry said. He urged people to observe lockdown in letter and spirit and to treat it as an effective intervention to cut down the spread of Covid-19.
Vardhan asserted that States with high viral load should focus on effective implementation of lockdown measures and containment strategy.
Maharashtra crossed the 8,000-mark on Sunday after adding 440 new cases. The total number of Covid-10 patients in the State now stands at 8,068. With 19 more casualties on Sunday, the death toll in the State has gone up to 342. As many as 34 new cases were reported in Mumbai’s Dharavi, taking the total number of positive cases in Dharavi to 275, including 14 deaths
In Delhi positive cases touched 2,625 with 54 deaths.
Gujarat reported 256 new coronavirus cases as of 8:00 am, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 3,071. Ahmedabad has the highest number of Covid-19 cases at 1298. Madhya Pradesh recorded 145 new cases and became the third State after Maharashtra and Gujarat to cross a death toll of 100. Three more persons died due to Covid-19 in the State on Sunday taking the toll to 103 and number of confirmed cases to 2090.
Indore has seen 57 deaths while the death count has also shot up in neighbouring Ujjain which has seen 15 deaths now. After adding nearly 1,509 cases on Saturday, Uttar Pradesh posted just 50 new cases on Sunday for a total count of 1,843 patients and 29 fatalities.
There is no sign of any let up in the coronavirus pandemic in Tamil Nadu as Sunday saw 64 persons testing positive for covid-19. Total number of persons tested positive in the State till Sunday reached 1,885, according to Dr C Vijaya Baskar, health minister, Tamil Nadu.
Sources in Fort Saint George (Tamil Nadu secretariat) told The Pioneer on Sunday the lockdown in the State may further be extended beyond May 3, when the second phase of lock down comes to an end. Chennai and surrounding regions, districts of Madurai, Salem, Tirupur, Coimbatore were shut down totally from Sunday 6 am for the next four days. The capital city wore the look of a ghost town with deserted thoroughfare, closed down shops and business establishments. Except for ambulances, Government cars, police and media crew vehicles, not even personal vehicles were to be seen in Mount Road and other arterial roads.
The number of persons died due to coronavirus related issues reached 24 on Sunday with one more person succumbing in a city hospital. The day also saw 60 persons undergoing treatment getting discharged from various hospitals following their recovery. Till date 1,020 persons have been cured of coronavirus all over Tamil Nadu. The Minister also said there were only 838 active coronavirus cases in the State.
Three health workers, including a woman doctor, were among the 11 people detected with Covid-19 in Kerala on Sunday, taking the total positive cases to 468. At least 20,127 people are under observation in various parts of the state, of which 462 are in isolation wards of hospitals, including 99 admitted on Sunday.
West Bengal saw 40 more new cases which took its total count to 611. Bihar, which had by and large untouched from the pandemic is also coming into reckoning. The state on Sunday added 23 new cases for a total count of 2724 while neighbouring Jharkhand added 15 more cases to reach a total of 82 infections.