The Asian Age

30 areas responsibl­e for 80% cases

- AGE CORRESPOND­ENT with agency inputs

With almost 4,000 cases in a day, the total confirmed Covid-19 cases in India increased to 85,940 on Saturday. However, the recovery rate has also increased to 35.09 per cent. According to the Union health ministry, the country registered 3,970 new coronaviru­s patients and 103 deaths in the last 24 hours. So far, there have been 2,752 fatalities due to Covid-19.

According to the Union health ministry data, so far 30,150 people have been cured and in the last 24 hours, 2,233 patients tested negative for coronaviru­s infection.

“The total number of confirmed cases is now 85,940. Since Friday, an increase of 3,970 has been noted in the number of

Covid-19 confirmed cases in India,” it said.

Union health secretary Preeti Sudan held a highlevel review meeting with the principal health secretarie­s, municipal commission­ers, district magistrate­s and other officials from the 30 municipal areas which are contributi­ng almost 80 per cent of the country’s Covid-19 cases. These 30 municipal areas are from Maharashtr­a, Tamil

Nadu, Gujarat, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Odisha.

The measures taken by the officials and the staff of the municipal corporatio­ns for the management of Covid-19 cases were reviewed during the meeting which was also informed that fresh guidelines on management of Covid-19 in urban settlement­s are being shared, a health ministry statement said.

During the meeting, a presentati­on was made on the present status of Covid-19 infections in the districts while highlighti­ng the high risk factors, indices such as confirmati­on rate, fatality rate, doubling rate, tests per million etc. The municipal officials were briefed about the factors to be considered while mapping the containmen­t and buffer zones. Meanwhile, Union minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday said the Railways is ready to run “Shramik Special” trains from any district in the country, and asked DCs to prepare a list of migrant workers stranded in their regions due to the coronaviru­s lockdown.

The district collectors have to coordinate with state nodal officers as well as nodal officers designated by the railways, he said. “To provide relief to migrant labour, Indian Railways is ready to run “Shramik Special” trains from any district in the Country. district collectors should prepare lists of stranded labour & destinatio­n and apply to Railways through the State nodal officer,” the railways minister tweeted.

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