The toll from COVID-19 disease in India rose to 1,783 while the number of novel coronavirus cases climbed to 52,952 on Thursday, registering an increase of 89 deaths and 3,561 cases in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said.
However, a PTI tally of numbers reported by states and UTs till 6.45 pm put the total number of confirmed cases at 53,950.
The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 35,902 while 15,266 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said.
In what comes as worrying news, as many as 77 inmates and 26 officials of Arthur Road jail in Mumbai have contracted coronavirus. According to India Today, tests were conducted on all inmates and staffers a day after a 45-year-old prisoner facing narcotics-related charges tested positive.
Meanwhile, speaking at a virtual global Buddha Purnima event, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India is making every effort to save the life of every citizen from coronavirus, but it is also taking its global obligations during the pandemic very seriously.
He also said that India’s growth will always be aiding global growth.
State-wise cases
The highest number of confirmed cases in the country is from Maharashtra at 16,758 followed by Gujarat at 6,625, Delhi at 5,532, Tamil Nadu at 4,829, Rajasthan at 3,317, Madhya Pradesh at 3,138 and Uttar Pradesh at 2,998.
The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 1,777 in Andhra Pradesh and 1,516 in Punjab. It has risen to 1,456 in West Bengal, 1,107 in Telangana, 775 in Jammu and Kashmir, 693 in Karnataka, 594 in Haryana and 542 in Bihar.
Representational image. AP
Kerala has reported 503 coronavirus cases so far, while Odisha has 185 cases. A total of 127 people have been infected with the virus in Jharkhand and 120 in Chandigarh.
Uttarakhand has reported 61 cases, Chhattisgarh has 59 cases, Assam and Himachal Pradesh have 45 each, while Tripura has 43 and Ladakh has registered 41 cases so far.
As many as 33 COVID-19 cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Meghalaya has registered 12 cases, Puducherry has nine, while Goa has seven COVID-19 cases.
Manipur has two cases. Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Dadar and Nagar Haveli have reported a case each.
A total of 89 deaths deaths have been reported since Wednesday, of which 34 people died in Maharashtra, 28 in Gujarat, nine in Madhya Pradesh, four each in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, three in Rajasthan, two each from Punjab and Tamil Nadu and one each from Delhi, Haryana and Orissa.
Of the 1,783 fatalities in the country, Maharashtra tops the tally with 651 deaths, Gujarat comes second with 396 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 185, West Bengal at 144, Rajasthan at 92, Delhi at 65, Uttar Pradesh at 60 and Andhra Pradesh at 36.
The death toll due to COVID-19 climbed to 35 in Tamil Nadu while Telangana and Karnataka have reported 29 fatalities each due to the disease. Punjab has registered 27 COVID-19 deaths, Jammu and Kashmir eight and Haryana seven. Kerala and Bihar have reported four deaths each.
Jharkhand has recorded three COVID-19 fatalities. Odisha and Himachal Pradesh have reported two deaths each.
Meghalaya, Chandigarh, Assam and Uttarakhand have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry data.
77 inmates of Mumbai jail test positive
As many as 77 inmates and 26 staff members of Arthur Road prison were found to have contracted coronavirus after coming in contact with a cook who had caught the infection.
“The prisoners will be quarantined with the help of the Mumbai civic body,” Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh said.
Deshmukh also said that to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus in jails, the state government had decided to release on parole some 5,000 prisoners who have been sentenced to less than seven years’ imprisonment.
Hindustan Times quoted an unnamed senior police official claiming that the state-run JJ Hospital authorities have already collected swab samples of 150 people from the prison and more samples are being collected.
“The possibility of COVID-19 having entered the prison through BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) cleaning staff, sanitisation workers, or through essential services that used to come to the jail cannot be ruled out,” the officer told the newspaper requesting anonymity.
Repatriation of Indians stranded abroad begins
The first of the two flights from the UAE carrying 177 Indian nationals left for Kerala on Thursday, as India began its biggest ever repatriation exercise to bring back its citizens stranded abroad amidst the international travel lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic.
A total of 354 Indian nationals, including 11 pregnant women and a pair of twins, will return home on Thursday in the two flights from the UAE to Kerala as part of the repatriation exercise named ‘Vande Bharat Mission’.
The Air India Express flight IX452 took off from Abu Dhabi to Kochi, which will be followed by a Dubai-Kozhikode flight of the same airline.
Passengers started arriving at Abu Dhabi and Dubai airports as early as 9.30 am on Thursday. Some of the passengers were carrying the Indian flags.
“All of them have cleared the tests,” Consul General of India in Dubai Vipul was quoted as saying by the Gulf News.
Harsh Vardhan holds meeting with state home ministers
On Thursday, Union Health minister Harsh Vardhan held a meeting with the health ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, and senior officials from both Centre and state governments to review the situation, actions being taken and preparedness for management of COVID-19.
He noted that in comparison to other countries, India is in a better condition as the fatality rate is 3.3 percent and recovery rate is 28.83 percent.
The minister also said that among the active cases, 4.8 percent patients are in ICU, 1.1 percent on ventilators and 3.3 percent on oxygen support.
The testing capacity has increased in the country and it is 95,000 tests per day. Cumulatively, 13,57,442 tests have been done so far for COVID-19.
There are 180 districts with no new cases in less than 7 days, 180 districts with no new cases in 7-13 days, 164 districts which have not had reported any new cases in 14-20 days and 136 districts with no new cases since the last 21-28 days.
In view of the increase in the number of migrant labourers expected to reach their native states in the days to come, the Union health minister noted that a robust strategy and mechanism need to be drawn up for their testing, and quarantine and treatment of the positive cases.
Japan approves Gilead Sciences’ Remdesivir as COVID-19 drug
Japan has approved Gilead Sciences Inc’s Rmdesivir as a treatment for COVID-19, the country’s health ministry said on Thursday, making it the country’s first officially authorised drug for the coronavirus disease.
Japan reached the decision just three days after the US drugmaker filed for fast-track approval for the treatment.
Remdesivir will be give to patients with severe COVID-19 symptoms, a Japanese health ministry official said at a press briefing. With no other approved treatments for COVID-19, interest in the drug is growing around the world.
