New Delhi:

The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 934 and the number of cases climbed to 29,435 in the country on Tuesday, according to the Union Health Ministry

 

The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 21,632, while 6,868 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, the ministry said

 

The total number of cases include 111 foreign nationals.

 

WHO data shows that the combined population of 20 nations where maximum coronavirus cases has been found is almost same as India's population. Further, these nations have together reported 84 times the number of Covid cases reported in India: Lav Agarwal, joint secretary in the health ministry.

 

The Indian Council of Medical Research is conducting a national study to study the efficacy of this therapy. “There is no treatment for Covid-19 in India or anywhere else globally. ICMR is using it only for research and trial purposes. There is no evidence to support that it can be used as a treatment,” Agarwal said.

The health ministry has said that till it is approved by ICMR with robust scientific proof, no claim should be made about the efficacy of the plasma therapy. “USFDA is also using it as an experimental study. If not used properly this therapy can even be life threatening,” Agarwal added.

 

Plasma therapy uses antibodies found in the blood of people, who have recovered from an infection (or convalesced), to treat patients who are infected.

 

In this therapy, blood is drawn from a person who has recovered from the disease and the serum is separated and screened for virus-neutralising antibodies.

 

There can even be life-threatening complications if plasma therapy is not used as per guidelines. Until and unless this is approved as a therapy for Covid-19, it is unjustified to spread any claim about the effectiveness of this therapy, said Agarwal.

 

A total of 48 deaths were reported since Monday evening of which 27 fatalities were reported from Maharashtra,11 from  Gujarat, five from Rajasthan, four from Madhya Pradesh and one from Jammu and Kashmir

 

Of the 934 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 369 fatalities, followed by Gujarat at 162, Madhya Pradesh at 110, Delhi at 54, Rajasthan at 46 and Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh at 31 each

 

The death toll reached 26 in Telengana, 24 in Tamil Nadu while West Bengal and Karantaka have reported 20 deaths each

 

Punjab has registered 18 fatalities so far. The disease has claimed seven lives in Jammu and Kashmir, four in Kerala while Jharkhand and Haryana have recorded three COVID-19 deaths each

 

Bihar has reported two deaths, while Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Assam have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry's data

 

The ministry's data updated in the morning stated that the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 8,590 followed by Gujarat at 3,548, Delhi at 3,108, Rajasthan at 2,262, Madhya Pradesh at 2,168, Uttar Pradesh at 1,955 and Tamil Nadu at 1,937

 

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to?1,183?in Andhra Pradesh and?1,004 in Telangana.?

 

The number of cases has risen to 697 in West Bengal,?546 in Jammu and Kashmir,?512 in Karnataka, 481 in Kerala, 345 in Bihar? and 313 in Punjab.Haryana has reported 296 coronavirus cases, while Odisha has 118 cases. Eighty-two people have been infected with the virus in Jharkhand and 51 in Uttarakhand.Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh have reported 40 cases each,Chhattisgarh has 37 cases while Assam has registered 36 infections each so far.Andaman and Nicobar Islands?has?33 COVID-19 cases while Ladakh has reported 20?infections.Meghalaya has reported 12 cases,?Puducherry has eight cases while Goa has seven COVID-19 cases.Manipur and Tripura have two cases each, while Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have reported a case each,

 

"Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR," the ministry said on its website 

 

States-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said.

 

Meanwhile,as many as 13,448 industrial units in Maharashtra have obtained permission to resume operations, Industries Minister Subhash Desai said on Tuesday.

 

The Union government had advised the states to allow resumption of industrial activities, which came to a standstill after lockdown due to coronavirus kicked in, from April 20.

 

The issue was also discussed in the latest video conference between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief ministers of various states, and Modi had asked the states to frame their own policies on relaxation of norms.

 

"The MIDC (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation) has been issuing permissions based on self-declared information from the industries," Desai said.

 

"The state industries department has received over 25,000 applications so far, and permissions have been given to 13,448 units," he added.

 

While resuming operations, the industrial units will have to strictly maintain social distancing, arrange temporary accommodation for employees (so that they don't need to travel by pubic transport) and make available sanitisers.

 

"Workers should get some work and with resumption of industrial activity, there will be some movement in the current situation of stagnation," Desai said.

 

According to local sources, small-scale industrial units have started operations in areas in the state which have not been impacted by the pandemic.