Coronavirus Cases, India: India may touch its peak of coronavirus cases in the first week of May, after which the number will decline, sources in the Home Ministry have said.
New Delhi, April 20:
India has seen the biggest single-day spike in the number of coronavirus cases – 1,553 cases in the last 24 hours – which takes the total to 17,265, including 543 deaths, the Union Health Ministry data shows. Thirty-six deaths were reported in the last 24 hours. The states across India – under a lockdown since March 25 to check the spread of the highly infectious COVID-19 – are set to ease restrictions today in the non-containment zones to boost economic activity in line with announcements made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week. The central government, however, has told states and union territories that the guidelines on the countrywide shutdown cannot be diluted.
Here are top 10 developments on coronavirus cases in India:
India has seen an improvement in the recovery rate that indicates the number of people who have successfully fought off the illness, according to Union Health Ministry. The rate stood at 14.75 per cent this morning, an improvement over 14.19 per cent on Sunday, 13.85 per cent on Saturday, 13.06 per cent on Friday, Thursday’s 12.02 per cent, Wednesday’s 11.41 per cent and Tuesday’s 9.99 per cent. More than 2,500 patients across the country have recovered from the highly infectious illness so far.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the COVID-19 pandemic affects everyone equally. “COVID-19 does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or border before striking. Our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood. We are in this together,” PM Modi said in a post on LinkedIn.
“Coronavirus has significantly changed the contours of professional life. These days, home is the new office. The Internet is the new meeting room. For the time being, office breaks with colleagues are history… I have also been adapting to these changes. Most meetings, be it with minister colleagues, officials and world leaders, are now via video conferencing,” said the Prime Minister, who has been holding video conferences with chief ministers and other leaders to review the lockdown and the road ahead.
In Telangana, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has announced extension of the coronavirus lockdown till May 7. He said the lockdown will be enforced in a stringent manner, and the food delivery mobile applications will not be allowed starting Monday. “The cabinet has decided to extend the lockdown in the state till May 7. The cabinet will take stock of the situation on May 5,” he said.
All airlines have been told by the aviation regulator – Directorate General of Civil Aviation or DGCA – to not take bookings after May 3 when the second phase of lockdown is scheduled to end. Air traffic and passenger trains were suspended last month, days before the nationwide shutdown began on March 25.
West Bengal government has said that faulty kits supplied by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), the country’s nodal body for COVID-19 testing, have been throwing up inconclusive results and delaying the pace of testing. While an ICMR response is awaited, the director of the Council’s nodal body in Kolkata said that the matter was being seriously addressed.
More relaxations are likely if India tackles coronavirus crisis well, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar told news agency PTI on Sunday.
There are 54 districts in 14 states that have not reported any fresh cases during the last 14 days, Union Health Ministry official Lav Agarwal said on Sunday during a press briefing, news agency PTI reported.
More than 4,000 cases reported across India have been linked to the congregation held in south Delhi’s Nizammudin last month by the Islamic sect Tablighi Jamaat, the government said on Saturday. “A total of 4,291 COVID-19 cases or 29.8 per cent of the 14,378 coronavirus infections reported till Saturday morning are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation,” Union Health Ministry’s Lav Agarwal had said on Saturday.
India may touch its peak of coronavirus cases in the first week of May, after which the number will decline, sources in the Home Ministry have said.
Courtesy: NDTV
