Centre Steps Up Vigil in Three States

The Union Health Ministry on Thursday said it will send a Central team, led by its Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal, to Gujarat, Maharashtra and Telangana for strengthening Covid-19 management efforts in these states.

The team will be in the three states between June 26 and 29 to coordinate with the state officials and review the measures undertaken by the states for containment of novel coronavirus, which has so far infected a total of 4,73,105 people across the country.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases at 1,42,900, Gujarat 28,943 while Telangana has so far reported 10,331 cases, according to Health Ministry data.

The decision was taken when India on Thursday witnessed the highest spike of almost 17,000 fresh Covid cases in the past 24 hours, with Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu contributing more than 62 per cent, while the overall fatalities rose to 14,894, the Ministry data said.

According to the Health Ministry data, 418 new deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

The ministry also said there are 33.39 cases in India for every one lakh population, against the global average of 120.21 cases per lakh.

Also, the number of deaths in the country is currently amongst the lowest in the world with 1.06 deaths per lakh against the world average of 6.24 deaths per lakh.

Following efforts to ramp up facilities across the nation, there are in total 1,007 diagnostic labs, of which 734 are in the government sector and 273 private.

From limited Covid-19 tests in January, a cumulative total of 75,60,782 samples have been tested up to June 24 with 2,07,871 samples being tested on Wednesday.

The Ministry, meanwhile, said the recovery rate is 57.43 per cent amongst Covid-19 patients and a total of 13,012 patients have been cured during the last 24 hours, Thus, so far, a total of 2,71,696 patients have been cured.

Presently, there are 1,86,514 active cases.

Mumbai: An artist paints a wall graffiti of the ‘Earth trapped in COVID-19 pandemic’ in Mumbai on June 2, 2020. (Photo: IANS)

Assessment of patients

The Central government has withdrawn the order which required every Covid-19 patient in Delhi to visit a government facility for a clinical assessment, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Thursday.

According to the new rule, medical teams will visit the patients at their residence to assess whether they need to be home isolated or be sent to the hospital.

On June 20, the Central government had issued an order making it compulsory for new patients to visit the Covid Care Centres for clinical assessment to ascertain whether they should be kept in home isolation or be hospitalised.

Since then, the AAP government in Delhi has been defending its home isolation approach to control the spread of coronavirus.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Sisodia said, “There is good news. The Central government has rolled back its order. Now, medical teams will visit people at their home to assess whether they should stay in home isolation or need to be sent to the hospital.”

Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal also took to Twitter to announce the withdrawal of the controversial order and said that the health department will now deploy a robust surveillance mechanism.

“SDMA approved the modification of SOP for home isolation for Covid patients to meet the twin objectives of containment of local spread and provision of timely medical care for Covid positive cases to save precious lives,” he said.

The Lieutenant Governor added, “Only those Covid positive cases who do not have adequate facilities at home to ensure physical segregation and do not have other medical conditions would require to be shifted to Covid Care Centres and other facilities.”

On Wednesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had requested the Central government to scrap the order, terming it “chaotic”.

“If a person is corona positive, and has a body temperature of 100-degree F, or 102-degree F, how will he or she stand in a queue for a medical check-up,” Kejriwal had asked.