Coronavirus India Updates: Total Covid-19 Cases At 2,547, Death Toll At 62

The total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in India rose to 2,547 on Friday, according to data made available by the Health Ministry. This includes 163 cured or discharged and 62 people which succumbed to the respiratory illness.

India has reported 478 new infections in the past 24 hours. Cases have more than tripled in the last seven days.

Today is the tenth day of the 21-day lockdown, slated to end on April 14.

The country reported its 1,000th Covid-19 case on March 29—nearly two months after reporting its first case. The second thousand cases have been reported in merely four days. Globally, coronavirus cases have crossed the one million mark while the death toll stands at 53,000, according to the latest available data.

Track latest news updates and developments on how the coronavirus situation is evolving in India here:

India added 478 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday as the total infections in the country rose to 2,547.

• Active cases: 2,322
• Cured/discharged/migrated: 163
• Deaths: 62

Source: Health Ministry

A 30-year-old man was shot at by a group of people that was wandering outdoors after he asked them to stay in their homes and abide by the lockdown restrictions at Kakroli village in the district, police said.

The injured man, identified as Javed, was shifted to a hospital for treatment after the attack on Thursday, they said.

According to SHO Vijay Bahadur Singh, police registered a case against six people who are all absconding.

Source: PTI

More than 30,000 doctors, including retired government and Armed Forces Medical Services, and private physicians have volunteered to help the government fight against Covid-19 pandemic, a senior government official said on Friday.

The government on March 25 had appealed to retired government, Armed Forces Medical Services, public sector undertaking or private doctors to come forward and join the efforts to fight the pandemic caused by the deadly novel coronavirus.

"30,100 volunteer doctors,including retired government, Armed Forces Medical Services, public sector undertaking or private doctors have signed up to the government to battle COVID-19 pandemic," the official told PTI.

The number of Covid-19 cases climbed to 2,301 in the country on Friday while the death toll rose to 56, according to the Union Health Ministry.

Source: PTI

A top mental health expert has given tips on how to spend the Coronavirus lockdown period productively at home and to keep concerns, tension and stress at bay.

The Director of the National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences, BN Gangadhar, suggested spending quality time with family members, and doing things which one would otherwise want to do but did not.

"Un-clutter your house, remove garbage from your house, play some small indoor games like cards with your family members, learn to cook with your family members, do some group activities with your family members which you would have never done and wanted to do it could be exercise, it could be yoga, meditation, bhajan, you all do it together," he said.

If any member of the family is preparing for an entrance examination, which has been postponed, one can be of help by conducting mock tests for some period during daytime leveraging online resources, Gangadhar, a recipient of the Padmashri award, told PTI in an interview.

"TV should be watched by all the members at specified hours (only); because you are at home, don't spend all time watching it," he said. Some women members may have tendency to feed the family with delicious food and try out new menus but one has to be careful not to add weight during the lockdown period. "More so, not exercising, not going out, makes it all the more important to reduce your indulgence on food altogether," Gangadhar said.

Source: PTI

Forty six fresh cases of coronavirus infection were reported in Uttar Pradesh in the last 24 hours, taking the total tally to 172, a senior health official said.

The new cases include over three dozen people who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi. As of Friday morning, 17 of the total Covid-19 patients in the state were fully cured and discharged while two died -- one each in Meerut and Basti.

"The good thing is that there has been a decrease in the average rate of infection in the state," Principal Secretary (Medical and Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said. The Health Department has been maintaining an aggressive containment exercise in and around districts where positive cases have been identified, and this has helped contain the spread, he added.

Source: PTI

The Indian Council of Medical Research has approved initiation of Covid-19 testing in laboratories under the Department of Biotechnology, Department of Science and Technology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and Department of Atomic Energy.

Adding a note of caution, the apex health research body said that "SARs-CoV 2 is high-risk pathogen with high transmissbility and infectivity. Sample handling at too many points and by inadequately trained staff can lead to spills and laboratory outbreaks."

The ICMR will not provide diagnostic kits/reagents to these laboratories and tests would be offered only when the sample is referred by the State Health officials or State Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme.

Since these research institutes are of eminence under other research organisations, ICMR will not conduct any site assessment nor accord approval at these laboratories. Secretaries of the concerned departments may accord approvals as deemed appropriate, the official said, adding that concerned departments are responsibile for these labs and not ICMR.

These labs have been asked to ensure immediate, real-time reporting to state officials of IDSP for timely initiation of contract tracing, and also follow a robust institutional policy on biomedical waste management of human origin.

Source: PTI

An IAS officer was among nine persons who tested positive for coronavirus in Madhya Pradesh since last evening, taking the state's tally to 120, a senior health official said.

The 2011-batch IAS officer, posted in the health department in Bhopal, had a history of travelling outside Madhya Pradesh in recent times, the official said. He was tested for the viral infection after he developed symptoms. His first report came positive, the official confirmed but added, "We are waiting for his second test report."

Among the other new cases, seven were reported from Indore and one from Chhindwara.

Out of the total 120 coronavirus cases recorded in Madhya Pradesh so far, 89 were reported from Indore, eight each from Jabalpur and Bhopal, six from Ujjain, two each in Morena, Shivpuri and Gwalior and one each from Khargone and Chhindwara, officials said.

Eight Covid-19 patients succumbed to the illness in the state - five from Indore, two from Ujjain and one from Khargone, they added.

Source: PTI

Coronavirus cases shot up by 12 overnight in Andhra Pradesh, taking the tally to 161 overall. A Covid-19 patient in Kakinada recovered.

SPS Nellore district turned into a hotbed with the fastest spread of Covid-19 from three to 32 in a span of just two days. Krishna district too witnessed a significant rise in coronavirus cases to 23, while Vijayawada city alone reported 18.

Meanwhile, a third Covid-19 patient who underwent treatment in the government hosital in Kakinada recovered on Friday, and was discharged. With this the number of active coronavirus cases stood at 158, State Nodal Officer Arja Srikanth said.

Source: PTI

A team from the World Health Organisation will visit Rajasthan's Tonk district on Friday to conduct a survey in the wake of rising number of coronavirus cases in the state, Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot said.

The number of coronavirus positive cases in the state increased to 154, while the cases of infection in Tonk stood at 16. Out of the 154, 21 cases including 12 from Tonk were reported on Friday.

Four of the positive cases in Tonk were attendees of the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi's Nizamuddin, while the remaining 12 were their close contacts.

The maximum number of 48 positive cases have been reported from Jaipur followed by 33 cases from Ramganj area.

Source: PTI

A 78-year-old man died due to coronavirus on Friday morning, taking the death toll in Gujarat to eight, officials said.

The elderly patient was a native of Panchmahal district and was admitted to a government hospital in Vadodara, where he died in the wee hours, said Jayanti Ravi, Principal Secretary (Health), Gujarat.

Seven new Covid-19 cases were recorded in Gujarat, taking the total cases of infection in the state to 95. All the new cases were reported from Ahmedabad.

Source: PTI

A 35-year male has been tested positive in Dharavi, Mumbai - Asia’s largest slum with 8.5 lakh residents and 13,000 establishments - according to a BMC official.

The patient is a doctor who lives on the main road. The BMC is has quarantined his building and is tracing high risk contacts, the official told BloombergQuint.

Here are some other details:

• The building has ground plus 14 floors which includes 48 flats and three nursing homes.
• 300 people are currently inside the society. No one is allowed to enter or exit till all high risk contacts are tested.
• There are 25 high risk contacts.
• A list of senior citizens and a list of people with respiratory illness have been prepared.
• Groceries and daily needs will be supplied by the BMC untill quarantine is released
• The building has been sanitised
• The patient has been taken to Raheja Hospital in Mahim.

To ensure speedy detection of coronavirus cases, those residing in Covid-19 hotspots or areas which have reported large numbers of cases may have to undergo a rapid antibody blood test for the viral infection.

The Indian Council of Medical Research in its interim advisory has recommended the use of the rapid antibody test in the country's coronavirus hotspots. The decision for the recommendation was taken at an emergency meeting of the National Task Force, formed to deal with the health crisis, held on Thursday.

"Population in hotspot areas may be tested using rapid antibody test. Antibody positives to be confirmed by RT-PCR (reverse transcription-PCR) using throat/nasal swab, and antibody negatives to be quarantined at home," the ICMR said in its interim advisory.

The Health Ministry has identified 20 existing and 22 potential Covid-19 hotpsots across the country.

The results of the antibody tests, similar to other blood tests, are available in 15-30 minutes. Presently the government uses the polymerase chain reaction tests to detect coronavirus from samples of throat or nasal swab of people with symptoms or high-risk individuals who might have come in contact with positive patients.

Source: PTI

The total number of conformed cases of Coronavirus in India rose to 2,301 on Friday morning, according to data made available by the Health Ministry. This includes 156 cured or discharged and 56 people which succumbed to the respiratory illness.

Cases have more than tripled in the last seven days.

A man with international travel history has tested positive for Covid-19 in Goa, taking the number of infections in the state to six, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said on Friday.

The man, a resident of Mandrem in North Goa who had travelled to Mozambique recently, tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Thursday night, he said.

The person came back to Goa on March 19 and contacted the Goa Medical College and Hospital after he developed symptoms related to Covid-19, he said.

Rane said the patient has been shifted to a special hospital set up for Covid-19 patients in south Goa.

As per the protocol, people who had come in contact with him will be quarantined and tested for the infection, the minister said.

With the latest case, the number of Covid-19 patients in Goa has gone up to six.

Source: PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged people to switch off lights of their homes at 9 p.m. for nine minutes on April 5 and light up lamps, candles, mobile flashlights to display the nation's collective spirit to defeat coronavirus.

In a video message, the prime minister said people should maintain social distancing and not form groups while lighting up lamps. He said the people should stay indoors.

He also said that people displayed unprecedented discipline and sense of service during the nationwide coronavirus lockdown that started on March 24 for a period of 21 days.

With over 400 people testing positive for coronavirus in Maharashtra, the state government has now taken the fight against the pandemic online, by launching a Covid-19 self-assessment tool.

The government has created a digital platform, wherein citizens can assess their symptoms from the comfort of their homes and later contact authorities if they have any doubts about their condition, an official release stated.

The state government has collaborated with Apollo 24x7 and launched an online tool, which is available at https://covid-19.maharashtra.gov.in/, to help people assess their symptoms at home.

Immediate medical advice and other relevant contact information are also available on this link, the official release said.

As per the guidelines issued by the WHO and Government of India, persons experiencing mild symptoms associated with coronavirus infection are required to self-quarantine or report to a hospital if their condition worsens.

The online self-assessment tool allows the authorities to have a real-time dashboard and helps them keep track of people with strong coronavirus symptoms who have used the tool, the release stated.

Apart from this, the platform also has dos and don'ts, helpline numbers and other information about the pandemic.

The authorities also plan to upgrade the tool with a facility to avail healthcare advice over phone or video calls from doctors, it was stated.

Source: PTI

The World Bank has approved $1 billion emergency funding for India to help it tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

The World Bank's first set of aid projects, amounting to $1.9 billion, will assist 25 countries, and new operations are moving forward in over 40 nations using the fast-track process, the bank said on Thursday.

The largest chunk of the emergency financial assistance has gone to India—$1 billion.

"In India, $1 billion emergency financing will support better screening, contact tracing, and laboratory diagnostics; procure personal protective equipment; and set up new isolation wards," the World Bank said after its Board of Executive Directors approved the first set of emergency support operations for developing countries around the world, using a dedicated, fast-track facility for Covid-19 response.

In South Asia, the World Bank also approved $200 million for Pakistan, $100 million for Afghanistan, $7.3 million for the Maldives and $128.6 million for Sri Lanka.

The World Bank said it was now working to grant up to $160 billion over the next 15 months to support measures to tackle the pandemic which will focus on the immediate health consequences and bolster economic recovery.

Source: PTI