New Delhi:
India's COVID-19 tally zoomed past 13 lakh on Saturday, just two days after it crossed the 12 lakh mark, while the recoveries mounted to 8,49,431, according to the Union Health Ministry.
With 48,916 fresh cases, the country's coronavirus infection tally surged to 13,36,861, while the death toll rose to 31,358 with 757 more people succumbing to the disease in the last 24 hours, data updated by the ministry at 8 am showed.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday said that he has tested coronavirus positive.
Chouhan shared the news on Twitter in the morning."I had symptoms of COVID-19.In the test report I was found positive. I appeal to all my colleagues that whoever has come in my contact to get tested for coronavirus.My close contacts should move to quarantine," Chouhan said in a tweet.In another tweet, the chief minister said that if detected and treated on time, COVID-19 infection can be cured.
There are currently 4,56,071 active cases of COVID-19 in the country.Thus, around 63.54 percent people have recovered so far.
The total number of confirmed cases includes foreigners.
This is the third consecutive day when COVID-19 cases increased by more than 45,000.
With 32,223 people discharged from hospitals between Friday and Saturday morning, India saw another highest single-day recovery for the fourth consecutive day. The recovery rate has now reached a new high of 63.53%.
The cumulative Covid-19 recoveries had crossed the 8 lakh-mark on Friday.The Union health ministry has said it is formulating guidelines to help manage long-term complications that some people have reported after recovering from severe Covid-19 illness.
“The ministry is working on guidelines for discharged patients who may develop other complications post-recovery at home.It has been reported that a section of recovered patients may experience respiratory or heart-related issues, renal or liver complications,or even ophthalmological (eye-related) side-effects,” said Rajesh Bhushan, an officer on special duty, the health ministry.
“Our experts are working on putting a document together to guide people on what kind of long-term care would they require, and what are the issues that they may face,” Bhushan said on Friday.
Today is the 124th day since India implemented a nationwide lockdown, to help curb the novel coronavirus pandemic. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Karnataka have reported the highest number of cases. However, infections are rising rapidly in states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Assam. Yet, India’s recovery rate continues to rise and now stands at 63.5 percent.
Of the 757 deaths reported, 278 were from Maharashtra, 108 from Karnataka, 88 from Tamil Nadu, 59 from Uttar Pradesh, 49 from Andhra Pradesh, 35 from West Bengal, 32 from Delhi, 26 from Gujarat, 14 from Jammu and Kashmir, 11 from Madhya Pradesh and eight each from Rajasthan and Telangana.
Assam, Chhattisgarh and Odisha have reported six fatalities each, followed by Punjab with five deaths, Kerala and Haryana four each, Bihar and Jharkhand three each, and Puducherry, Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland one fatality each.