Govt assesses lockdown future Kits to be rationed ahead of antibody testing this week

Centre considering extending lockdown after several states urge for it as infections continue to rise

NEW DELHI: Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases in the country were set to top 5,000 on Tuesday, just two days after it hit the 4,000mark, while the Central government is considering extending the 21-day lockdown till the end of end of April.

Eight Covid-19 patients have died and 354 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, the Union minister said, taking the total number of infected people in the country to 4,421. However, a tally based on figures reported by covid19india.org, which tracks cases real time, and state governments showed at least 4,917 confirmed cases and at least 141 deaths, as of 7pm on Monday.

Maharashtra made up most of the cases, where the tally was set to cross 1,000. Maharashtra’s Covid-19 positive count rose to 891 after 23 new cases were reported on Tuesday, the state health officials said. The latest tally of Covid-19 positive cases in Mumbai is 536, or over 60% of incidents of the viral outbreak in the state.

Meanwhile, the Centre is considering extending the 21-day lockdown that was supposed to end on April 14 till at least the end of the month, a senior government official aware of the developments said on Tuesday.

A senior government official confirmed to HT that the Centre was leaning towards this as it was also what several states had conveyed to them. Other than states like Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra, even Karnataka has conveyed that the threat of Covid 19 would be easier to handle if the lockdown was to continue.

Earlier in the day, a group of ministers (GOM) led by defence minister Rajnath Singh met at his residence to discuss the various considerations that would have to be factored in once the lockdown was lifted. “The ministers were very clear that even if the lockdown is lifted, travel restrictions will remain,” the official, who did not want be named, said.

The official said the ministers’ deliberations would now be conveyed to Prime Minister Modi who is expected to shortly decide on the extension of the lockdown announced to stop the spread of the infection.

During a press briefing, the health ministry’s joint secretary, Lav Agarwal, said cluster

NEWDELHI: States across the country will soon receive half a million antibody testing kits from the Centre, as India embarks on more aggressive testing in so-called containment zones and clusters.

“We have ordered about 500,000 rapid testing kits that we should get by April 8 or 9, and will be deployed in states as per the requirement,” said Raman R Gangakhedkar, chief, epidemiology and communicable disease, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

According to an ICMR advisory, rapid testing kits (for antibody tests or blood tests) need to be deployed in areas where mass testing is required. But, the kits being provided may not be enough, with state governments estimating that they need at least two million kits .

To meet the requirement, states have asked the Centre for more and also placed orders with private firms to provide as “many kits as possible” .