India’s single-day spike in COVID-19 cases inched towards 10,000 on Sunday, a Health Ministry data revealed. At least 287 people died in the last 24 hours due to the disease. A total of 9,971 new COVID-19 cases in a single day have been reported, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 2,46,628. And with this India surpassed Spain to become the fifth-worst pandemic hit country globally.
Of the total cases, at least 1,20,406 are active 1,19,293 persons have been cured and discharged while 6,929 fatalities have been recorded so far.
At least 5,220 individuals had been cured since Saturday and India’s recovery rate stood at 48.36 per cent, while the fatality rate docked at 2.80 per cent.
Maharashtra case count crossed the 80,000 marks and stood at 82,968, which is 36.64 caseload of the national tally. This was followed by Delhi with 27,654, Tamil Nadu with 30,152 and Gujarat (19,592). In the National Capital, a controversy erupted when the Delhi government lodged an FIR against the private COVID facility of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital for not using the RT-PCR app for sample collection.
Meanwhile, the total number of global coronavirus has surged to over 6.8 million, while the death toll was nearing 400,000, according to John Hopkins University.
As of Sunday morning, the overall number of cases stood at 6,855,858, while the death toll increased to 398,321, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.
India is now fifth worst pandemic hit country globally, after surpassing Spain’s total number of COVID-19 cases and is now moving closer to the UK (2,86,294). The other countries are US (1,919,430), Brazil (645,771), Russia (458,102), the UK (286,294), Spain (241,310), Italy (234,801), Peru (191,758), France (190,759), Germany (185,450), Iran (169,156), Turkey (169,218), Chile (127,745) and Mexico (110,026), the CSSE figures showed.
With the coronavirus infection on the rise in the second worst-hit Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Sunday said without people’s cooperation the coronavirus spread cannot be controlled.
In a statement issued here, Palaniswami urged the people not to venture out of their homes unnecessarily and when they do go out, they should wear a mask and maintain social distance.
Pointing out that the spread of coronavirus has not only affected the normal life but also the economy, Palaniswami said the government has to protect the people’s livelihood and economy.
He requested people to wash their hands with soap at regular intervals while at home and in office.
Palaniswami said till June 4, about 5.50 lakh samples were tested which showed that 86 per cent of the people did not show and symptoms of virus infection — asymptomatic persons.
According to him, each government department should follow the standard operating practice (SOP).
If the government and people work together then Tamil Nadu will come out of coronavirus impact and march forward in all sectors, he said.
He also listed out various actions taken by the government in preventing the virus spread, providing relief to poorer sections of the society, reviving the economy, attracting newer investments and others.
Palaniswami said there are 292 hospitals in the state (123 government and 169 private) designated as Covid Hospitals treating coronavirus infected persons.
Meanwhile, on the eve of easing of lockdown norms, for the third day in a row, the total number of new Covid cases on Sunday crossed 100 in Kerala to settle at 107.
On Saturday it was 108 and on Friday the state registered 111 cases.
State Health Minister K.K. Shailaja in a statement issued here said that of the new cases, 71 came from abroad, while 28 were from within the country. The remaining eight are local infections.
“As on date, 1,095 people are positive and are under treatment, while 803 have been cured. As many as 1,91,481 people are at present under observation in homes and corona care centres, including 1,716 in hospitals.
“With the addition of 4 more hotspot areas, the total number of containment zones in the state has risen to 144,” said Shailaja.
According to the easing of lockdown norms starting Monday, permission has been given to open places of worship, malls and restaurants.
The Kerala government on Sunday came out with a fresh directive saying all the state government offices will have to function normally from Monday and the only exception is for those offices which are now located in hotspots and containment zones should operate from minimum staff who hail from the district only.