Coronavirus cases in India near 50,000-mark
NEW DELHI: With 2,958 new cases in the last 24 hours, India’s COVID-19 count inched close to the 50,000-mark on Wednesday as the total tally mounted to 49,391, while with 1,236 new deaths in a single day, the number of fatalities rose to 1,694.
The country also witnessed 1,456 new recoveries in a day taking the total tally to 14,183 at the rate of 28.71 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday conducted highest ever 84,835 tests in a day and with this, the total tally of tests conducted rose to 12,76,781 in its 439 labs. The growth rate of COVID-19 cases has reduced to 3.48 per cent, which was reported at 4.57 per cent on Tuesday.
Among the total number of cases, Maharashtra continued to be the hardest-hit with infections surging to 15,525 after 984 fresh cases and 34 deaths were reported since Tuesday. The state has reported a total of 617 deaths.
According to the Health ministry’s data, Gujarat is the second most affected state as it reported a total of 6,245 cases after registering 441 fresh cases, followed by Delhi with 5,104 cases,
Tamil Nadu saw a rise of 508 new cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 4,058, followed by Rajasthan at 3,158, Madhya Pradesh at 3,049, Uttar Pradesh at 2,880, Andhra Pradesh at 1,717, Punjab at 1,451, Telangana at 1,096.
Meanwhile, Air India’s repatriation flights under the ‘Vande Bharat’ mission could not be operated on Wednesday as the crew members’ COVID19 tests were not done on time, senior airline officials said.
The ‘Vande Bharat’ mission plans to bring stranded Indians from abroad amid the Coronavirus-induced lockdown. The flights under the mission will start operating from Thursday, the officials clarified.
Air India’s first flight was scheduled to depart at 3.30 am on Wednesday from Delhi to San Francisco. The second flight was scheduled to depart at 6.30 am on Wednesday from
Mumbai to London, they said.
“While the flight to London is now scheduled to leave from Mumbai at 6.30 am on Friday, the flight to San Francisco will leave at 3.30 am on Friday,” the officials noted.
Delhi Police reported its first Coronavirus-linked death — a 31-year-old constable who died at the city’s Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital on Tuesday evening.
The constable, identified as Amit Rana, showed no COVID-19 symptoms until
Monday evening. A few hours later, however, he had spiked a fever and developed breathing problems, prompting his family to rush him to the hospital; he was first taken to the Deep Chand Bandhi Hospital and then to RML, where he was declared brought dead, according to a news agency.
Rana’s samples, taken before his death, returned positive on Wednesday, confirming he had been infected with the COVID19 virus. His colleagues have been asked to self-isolate.