New Delhi:
The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 2,109 and the number of cases climbed to 62,939 in the country on Sunday, registering an increase of 128 deaths and 3,277 cases in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry.
The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 41,472, while 19,357 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, the ministry said.
The recovery rate stands at about 30.75 per cent while the fatality rate is 3.3 per cent.
The total number of cases include 111 foreign nationals.
A total 128 deaths were reported in the country since Saturday morning — 48 in Maharashtra, 23 in Gujarat, 15 in Madhya Pradesh, 11 in West Bengal, eight in Uttar Pradesh, five each in Rajasthan and Delhi, four in Tamil Nadu, three in Andhra Pradesh, two in Punjab and one each in Telangana, Haryana, Chandigarh and Assam.
Of the 2,109 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 779 deaths. Gujarat comes second with 472 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 215, West Bengal at 171, Rajasthan at 106, Uttar Pradesh at 74, Delhi at 73, and Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu at 44.
Testing capacity for COVID-19 has been scaled up to around 95,000 tests per day
The testing capacity for COVID-19 has been scaled up to around 95,000 tests per day and a total of 15,25,631 tests have been conducted so far across 332 government and 121 private laboratories, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Saturday.
The minister, who reviewed the status of COVID-19 in the northeastern states along with the measures taken for its containment and management, also stressed on the need to take concrete action to check the use of non-smoking tobacco and prohibit spitting in public places which shall help in preventing the spread of the infection, according to a statement.
The testing capacity for COVID-19 has been scaled up to around 95,000 tests per day and a total of 15,25,631 tests have been conducted so far across 332 government and 121 private laboratories, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Saturday.
The minister, who reviewed the status of COVID-19 in the northeastern states along with the measures taken for its containment and management, also stressed on the need to take concrete action to check the use of non-smoking tobacco and prohibit spitting in public places which shall help in preventing the spread of the infection, according to a statement.“It is a huge relief and very encouraging to see green zones in most northeastern states.
Airline executives don't favour restarting air transport only between cities classified as green zones
Meanwhile, according to media reports,airline executives have opposed the idea of restarting air transport only between cities classified as green zones, saying this will be a non-starter as major metro airports fall under the red zone.
A committee of the civil aviation ministry, headed by Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola, met on Saturday to discuss the resumption of air travel where industry executives as well as some officials expressed their disagreement with the proposal.
“Indian aviation cannot resume without at least three major airports being functional. If Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata are shut, there is little chance that airlines will start flying even if the government gives the go-ahead,” the chief executive officer of an airline said.
The Union health ministry has split 733 districts across India into red, orange and green zones based on the number of Covid-19 cases and the doubling rate of the disease. The list designated major cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Ahmedabad, as ‘no activity’ zones as lockdown was extended by two weeks beyond May 4.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri recently said the government was considering gradually restarting aviation, first with flights exclusively between green zones. “We will have to open the aviation sector in a gradual and calibrated manner. We can only plan for flights between two green zones. It will be difficult to resume services between red zones,” Puri had said.
As of date, only Assam and Tripura have active COVID-19 cases. Other states are all in the green zone. Let us focus and work together by converting the orange zones to green zones and maintain the protective status across the states,” Vardhan was quoted as saying in the statement.
The death toll is 31 in Punjab, 30 each in Karnataka and Telangana. Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana each have registered nine COVID-19 deaths, Bihar five and Kerala four.
Jharkhand has recorded three COVID-19 fatalities. Odisha, Chandigarh, Assam and Himachal Pradesh have reported two deaths each.
Meghalaya and Uttarakhand have reported one fatality each.
According to the health ministry data updated in the morning, the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 20,228,followed by Gujarat at 7,796, Delhi at 6,542, Tamil Nadu at 6,535, Rajasthan at 3,708, Madhya Pradesh at 3,614 and Uttar Pradesh at 3,373.
The number of coronavirus cases has gone up to 1,930 in Andhra Pradesh, 1,786 in West Bengal and 1,762 in Punjab.
They have risen to 1,163 in Telangana, 836 in Jammu and Kashmir, 794 in Karnataka, 675 in Haryana and 591 in Bihar.
Kerala has reported 505 coronavirus cases so far, while Odisha has 294 cases. A total of 169 people have been infected with the virus in Chandigarh and 156 in Jharkhand.
Tripura has reported 134 cases, Uttarakhand has 67 cases, Assam 63 and Chhattisgarh 59.
Himachal Pradesh has 50 and Ladakh has registered 42 cases so far.
Thirty-three COVID-19 cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Meghalaya has registered 13 cases, Puducherry has nine, while Goa has seven COVID-19 cases.Manipur has two cases. Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Dadar and Nagar Haveli have reported a case each.
"Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR," the ministry said on its website.
State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said.