Coronavirus cases close to 38 lakh; total recoveries too cross 29 lakh

The growth of coronavirus cases in India is one of the fastest in the world right now as its overall cases now run closer to 38 lakh. At this speed India will shortly beat Brazil to be number two in the world having the highest number of Covid-19 cases after the United States of America which has 60.76 lakh cases till now. Brazil has 39.51 lakh cases, as per Johns Hopkins University bulletin.

India on Wednesday reported 78,357 fresh cases and 1,045 new deaths in the 24 hours. Though as per official figures of union health ministry overall cases till Wednesday morning were 37,69,523 and deaths 66,333 the COVID19India.org figures showed the overall cases were close to 38 lakh.

While Maharashtra (15, 756), Andhra Pradesh (10, 368) and Karnataka (9,058) continue to record a high number of cases on a daily basis, Delhi on Wednesday reported a huge jump in fresh cases after nearly two months of control.

Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal has ordered officers to ramp up city’s testing capacity by allowing testing on demand, having testing centres at all border entry points and at major construction sites to check the spread of

Covid-19. All guest workers coming to Delhi will now have to undergo tests.

With the recovery of 62,026 cases in the last 24 hours, India’s Recovery Rate amongst the patients has further improved to 76.98 per cent.

The total recoveries in the country have crossed 29 lakh now and the last 10 lakh recoveries have been recorded in 17 days in comparison to preceding

10 lakh recoveries which were recorded in 22 days, union health ministry officials said.

“A significant feature of India’s management of Covid-19 cases is the growing rate of recovered patients. As India continues to sustain its progressively increasing rate of recoveries, a higher number of patients are recovering and being discharged from hospitals and home isolation. Since May, there has been a 58 times hike in the number of recovered patients,” officials said.

They added 12 states/UTs have reported a Recovery Rate more than the National Average while Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu alone account for around 30 per cent of the total recoveries.

The fatality rate has further declined to 1.76 per cent.

Meanwhile, the union health ministry has issued guidelines to be followed while conducting examinations during the pandemic.

As per the Standard Operating Procedure, apart from generic preventive measures like masks, sanitisers, physical distancing etc, universities/colleges have been asked to hold examinations outside containment zones with even staff/examinees not coming from these areas.

Examination schedule has to be planned in a staggered manner to avoid overcrowding. In case any examinee exhibits symptoms and is still willing to take the examination, he/she may be allowed by shifting in a separate isolation room.