Virus cure rate impressive, over 9,300 cases reported
Death toll rises to 6,075 after 260 more die in 24 hours; Defence Secretary put under home quarantine after testing positive; TN infections near 26,000
India’s COVID-19 infections stood at 2,16,919 on Thursday morning, after 9,304 new infections were reported from across the country in a span of 24 hours. This is the highest number of coronavirus cases on a single day so far.
The death toll in the country also crossed the 6,000-mark and reached 6,075 after 260 new fatalities were reported.
Of the total, 1,06,737 cases are active and are being treated, while 1,04,106 people have been cured and discharged from the hospitals.
Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar has tested positive, the highest ranked official infected so far. He has been put under home quarantine.
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to solve the problem of regular travellers as Noida, Delhi and Gurgaon have issued contradicting rules at the border.
“Let Solicitor General Tushar Mehta take instructions on this and a meeting will be convened by Delhi, UP and Haryana officials to decide a common portal for interstate movement in NCR region. Let this be done in a week,” a Supreme Court bench headed by Ashok Bhushan said.
A recommendation has been given that there should be one pass recognised in the National Capital Region, instead of the present requirement of three different passes.
Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana have been given a week’s time to decide on a common policy.
Delhi sealed its borders for a week on Monday amid a worrying surge in coronavirus cases.
The sealing order came hours after Haryana opened Gurgaon-delhi borders in line with the revised lockdown guidelines issued by the centre, which said non-essential inter-state movement of vehicles would now be allowed without e-passes or special permits.
Uttar Pradesh’s Noida, which also shares a border with Delhi, had sealed all routes in April in an attempt to stop the COVID-19 virus from spreading.
On Sunday, the Noida administration confirmed the border would remain closed till further notice, stating that 42 per cent of cases in the area had been tracked back to Delhi.
TN cases rise New COVID-19 cases remained above 1,000 for a straight fourth day in Tamil
Nadu, hitting a total infections of 25,872 as of Thursday morning.
On Wednesday, 1,286 new infections were reported.
As many as 208 persons have lost their lives. The second worst-hit state in the country after Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu currently has 11,345 active patients.
Chennai alone found 1,012 persons infected on Wednesday.
Among the new victims of the virus are an MLA of the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ( DMK), and a woman officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). The legislator was identified as J Anbazhagan, but the IAS officer’s identity has been kept confidential.
She works in the State Secretariat, officials said. Her office has been shut, and the staff are being tested. Thirty employees of the State Secretariat were earlier tested positive.
Anbazhagan has been admitted to a private hospital at Chrompet. The condition of both are said to be stable.
Meanwhile a policeman and a Bangladeshi inmate at the Puzhal Central Prison have been tested positive for COVID-19, taking the total number of affected persons in the jail to 33.
Officials said that even as 90 prisoners are put in isolation, they are tracing the contact history. No one in the women’s wing have the virus, sources said.
Those who have tested positive belong to the age group of 35 to 63.
Those tested positive have been quarantined at a separate block inside the prison. The isolation block is given ample facilities just like in government hospitals. Puzhal jail houses 850 inmates at present.
The state branch of Indian Medical Association has fixed Rs2,31,820 as fee for treatment of patient with mild symptoms for 10 days. Patients with severe symptoms the amount has been fixed as Rs4,31,311 for 17 days.
Sources said that the fee covered hospital charges, pharmacy, consumables and investigation. This fees is excluding of consulting charges and other expenses.