20K new cases in a day, but recovery rate up to 58.56%
■ No community transmission in Delhi: Amit Shah
India on Sunday registered close to 20,000 fresh coronavirus cases and 410 more deaths in one day. This is so far the country’s highest single-day count, taking the overall tally to 5,28,859, while the overall death toll is 16,095, according to the Union health ministry.
In the last 24 hours, 19,906 new cases were detected, out of which 6,368 were in Maharashtra, 3,713 in Tamil Nadu and 2,889 in Delhi. This is the fifth consecutive day over 15,000 fresh Covid-19 infections have been reported in the country.
Delhi has a total 83,077 Covid-19 cases till now and 2,623 deaths, out of which 65 deaths were reported Sunday. The city also saw 3,306 persons getting discharged from medical supervision after cure. Union home minister Amit Shah said that there is no community transmission of the virus in Delhi. Delhi has intensified testing of its population via intensive houseto house-surveys in the hotspot zones.
Besides, following the success of door-to-door surveys in hotspots like Dharavi and Worli in Mumbai, the Maharashtra government has now said it would extend this strategy under “chase the virus” campaign to the entire state.
The health ministry said the number of people who have recovered is much higher than those infected and the gap between recoveries and active cases had increased by 1,00,000. It said so far 3,09,712 people have recovered while 2,03,051 are under treatment, and the recovery rate is 58.56 per cent. As of Sunday, the recovered cases exceeded the active cases by 106,661. During the last 24 hours, a total of 13,832 Covid-19 patients have been discharged. Among those who beat the virus is a 99-year-old woman in Karnataka.
While cases are rising alarmingly across the country, the doubling has gone up to 26 days. Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have 50 per cent of all new cases in India.
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has put to rest the possibility of ending the lockdown curbs in the state. The lockdown in Maharashtra will continue after June 30 and it may be even imposed strictly in some parts of the state where there is a rise in Covid-19 cases, he said on Sunday.
Mr Thackeray said there will be some restrictions in the state after June 30 but more relaxations will be offered gradually. “The state has now started the unlock process under the Mission Begin Again. There will be some restrictions even after June 30, but eventually more and more relaxations will be offered to the people,” he said.
After more than two months of rigorous coronavirus-induced lockdown, the state government has begun the unlock process by offering several relaxations to people under ‘Mission Begin Again’ from June 8. There were expectations that the curbs will be lifted further after the month of June. However, Mr Thackeray ruled out easing the restrictions saying that the virus threat is not over yet.
“The lockdown will not be lifted after June 30. People should not be under any illusion that the lockdown shall be over and all activities will resume. The purpose behind implementing the Mission Begin Again was only to put the state economy back on track. But the state still faces the coronavirus danger. If there is a rise in Covid-19 cases, we will have no option but to impose the lockdown strictly in some parts of the state,” he said while addressing the state on social media.
The CM pointed out that the unlock process has resulted in rise in movement and interaction, due to which the number of positive cases have started increasing. He appealed to the coronavirus patients, who have recovered from the disease and developed antibodies, to donate plasma.