COVID-19 death toll rises to 250, number of cases cross 7,500: Health Ministry

The tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases crossed 7,500 on Friday with more than 250 deaths in India as several places including Delhi and Mumbai reported further spread of the deadly virus and Punjab became the second state to extend the lockdown beyond April 14, a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets chief ministers to take stock of the situation.

The Union Home Ministry also sought views of stategovernments on the 21-day lockdown including on whether more categories ofpeople and services need to be exempted, officials said on Friday, amidstindications of a possible two-week extension of the nationwide restrictions tocurb the spread of coronavirus.

   

The Health Ministry in the meantime maintained that nocommunity transmission is taking place as yet in India, while the World HealthOrganisation also put the country in a category named ‘cluster of cases’ — anotch below the community transmission stage and a classification used by theglobal body for cases “clustered in time, geographic location and/or bycommon exposures”.

While several states including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu,Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh reported rising number of cases, theUnion Health Ministry said the rate of people testing positive was only 0.2 percent on Thursday when more than 16,000 samples were tested. Cumulatively closeto 1.5 lakh samples have been tested so far across India.

A PTI tally of numbers reported by various states as on 9.30PM showed a total of 7,510 having been affected by the virus nationwide so farwith at least 251 deaths. More than 700 have been cured and discharged.

However, the evening update from the Union Health Ministryput the number of confirmed infections at 6,761 and the death toll at 206.

Maharashtra has reported the maximum 1,574 cases, includingclose to 1,000 in Mumbai itself, while over 100 have died in the state. TamilNadu and Delhi have crossed the 900-mark in terms of positive cases, Rajasthanhas over 500 now, while Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have reported morethan 400 positive cases each. Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat are also fastapproaching the 400-mark, while Kerala has also reported over 300 casesalready.

More than 200 cases have been reported by each of Karnatakaand Jammu & Kashmir, while the 100-mark has been breached already by WestBengal, Haryana and Punjab.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said most of the 27positive cases reported in his state on Thursday — the maximum daily increasefor the state — were those of secondary transmission and expressedapprehension that the state may be entering the community transmission stage ofthe outbreak.

A day after Odisha decided to extend the lockdown till April30, Punjab decided to continue the lockdown till May 1, while a decision by thecentral government on the nationwide lockdown, which entered its 17th day, isexpected after Modi’s interaction with all chief ministers on Saturday.

In Tamil Nadu, an expert committee recommended to ChiefMinister K Palaniswami that the lockdown be extended by two weeks beyond April14 considering the rise in number of cases.

A review meeting was also held by the Prime Minister’sOffice during the day on various efforts to check the coronavirus spread, whichalso discussed ramping up of production of personal protective equipments(PPEs) among other issues.In the meantime, more states including Odishaand Telangana made it mandatory for people to wear masks or face covers atpublic places, while enforcement was beefed up for action against thoseviolating the lockdown conditions PTU.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

6 + fourteen =