Coronavirus India Updates: Total Cases Cross 17,500; Seven States Have More Than 1,000 Each

India’s count of confirmed Covid-19 cases rose to 17,615 by Sunday night, according to the ICMR.

A total of 4,01,586 samples from about 3,83,985 individuals have been tested as on 9 p.m. on April 19, India’s apex body for biomedical research and policy said in a statement. About 27,824 samples were tested for Covid 19 on Sunday, and 1,135 were positive.

The tally is higher than 16,116 confirmed cases disclosed by the Health Ministry. The ministry said on Sunday that it’s trying to reconcile its numbers with the data from ICMR.

India’s aviation regulator directs all airlines to stop bookings for both domestic and international flights.

Decision to commence operations of flights from May 4 hasn’t been taken yet, Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a statement on Sunday. Sufficient time will be given to airlines for booking and restarting operations, it said.

The total number of confirmed new coronavirus cases in India has risen to 16,116, according to data on the Health Ministry’s website on Sunday evening. This includes 519 deaths.

To be sure, numbers released by the Indian Council for Medical Research on Saturday night showed that the count of confirmed infections has hit 16,365, with the biggest single-day spike on Saturday.

The Health Ministry’s website said the numbers are being reconciled with the ICMR data. According to the ministry, as on 5:30 p.m. on Sunday:

• Total Covid-19 positive cases: 16,116
• Active cases: 13,295
• Cured/discharged/migrated: 2,302
• Deaths: 519

Seven states have more than 1,000 cases of Covid-19, with Maharashtra leading the tally.

Here are the state with the highest case load:

1. Maharashtra: 3,651
2. Delhi: 1,893
3. Gujarat: 1,604
4. MP: 1,407
5. Tamil Nadu: 1,372
6. Rajasthan: 1,351
7. UP: 1,084

Next In Line

• Telangana: 844

20 New Cases In Dharavi

Dharavi reported 20 new confirmed cases on Sunday, taking the tally at Mumbai’s largest slum to 138 including.

That includes 11 deaths, according to the data shared by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

The Maharashtra government will let certain economic activities in the state to resume from April 20, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said.

The state has divided districts into red, orange and green zones, he said, adding that limited industrial business activity will be permitted in green and orange zones. Green zones comprise districts with no cases and orange zones have areas that have reported a few cases.

Economic activity will be conducted only within designated districts and not between them, the chief minister said. District borders remain sealed and inter-district travel still prohibited, he said, adding that the government is only allowing movement of goods between districts, not people.

Delhi has decided not to relax the lockdown as of now as the number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus mount, including a volunteer who has been distributing food at a centre set up by the government.

“All 11 districts of Delhi are hotspots and we have seen increase in number of coronavirus cases,” Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a videoconference. “Yesterday we tested about 736 asymptomatic patients, and about 186 were positive—i.e. about 25 percent of the cases. Those 736 patients had no clue that they had the virus.”

One person from the 186 positive cases was even involved in distribution at a food centre set up in the national capital, he said. “We have sealed the food centre and are trying to do rapid testing of all the people who visited it.”

Kejriwal said Delhi will conduct rapid tests of all workers and volunteers involved in food centres.

The total number of cases in the national capital has reached 1,893, including 26 are in intensive care units and six on ventilators. Delhi has about 12 percent of the total coronavirus cases in the country.

The Delhi government will review the situation after one week, he said.

Supply of non-essential goods by e-commerce companies will remain prohibited during the lockdown after April 20, the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement on Sunday.

Earlier, newswire PTI had reported quoting unnamed officials that Amazon India and Flipkart and other such operators will be allowed to sell mobile phones, televisions, refrigerators, laptops and stationery items from April 20. That came after the government eased guidelines for operating essential and non-essential services during the extended lockdown period.

The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in India rose to 15,712 as of 8 a.m. on Sunday.

The nation added 1,334 cases in the last 24 hours, according to the numbers released by the Health Ministry on Sunday morning. The total number of deaths from the virus-related complications rose by 27 to 507.

• Confirmed new coronavirus cases: 15,712
• Active cases: 12,969
• Cured/discharged/migrated: 2,231
• Deaths: 507

Source: Health Ministry (As on April 19; 8 a.m.)

To be sure, data released by ICMR on Saturday night showed that India has 16,365 confirmed cases, with more than 2,000 added on Saturday. There's no clarity on why there’s a wide gap in the numbers reported by the Health Ministry and the ICMR.

Late Saturday evening, the Indian Council of Medical Research said India added 2,154 patients of Covid-19, taking the total to 16,365.

This marks the largest single day increase in the number of patients. It also marks the largest number of tests done in a single day so far.

The ICMR statement, released at 10.30pm, said a total 3,72,123 samples from 3,54,969 individuals have been tested as on April 18, 9 pm. Of the 35,494 samples reported on in the day, 2,154 were positive for SARS-CoV-2.

Earlier in the day, in a press briefing, held at 5.30pm, the health ministry said the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases stood at 14,792 and deaths at 488. The ministry put the recoveries at 2,015.

Coronavirus In India

0 - 5,000: 70 days
5,000 -10,000: 6 days
10,000 -16,365: 4 days

The Dharavi area of Mumbai added 16 new cases on Saturday, taking the total number of cases in the area to 118, according to the BMC.

An 80-year old woman was declared dead at the Sion Hospital on Friday evening, taking the death toll in Dharavi to 11.

The government today announced that all postal employees, including Gramin Dak Sevaks will get Rs 10 lakh as compensation if they succumb to Covid-19.

Postal services come under the 'essential services' category and apart from regular services, they are also delivering food packets, rations and essential medicines among other things by liasioning with the local administration and the police.

The total number of Covid-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh rose to 869 with 20 fresh cases being added.

The state has reported 14 deaths so far with the maximum being from Agra with 5 deaths.

Principal Health Secretary Amit Mohan Prasad said that cases have been reported from 49 districts of the state, adding that some of them have managed to flatten the curve.

As of today, there are 1,025 people in isolation wards while those in quarantine stand at 10,814, Prasad told PTI.

The Maharashtra Government on Saturday has prohibited door-to-door delivery of newspapers and magazines as part of the measures to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Although print media has been exempted from the lockdown from April 20, as per the guidelines issued by the state government, the door-to-door delivery will be prohibited given the extend of the spread, as per PTI.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday chaired a meeting of a Gorup of Ministers with a focus on finding ways to mitigate the hardships being faced by people across the country. It was the fifth meeting of the GoM headed by the defence minister.

Government sources said the meeting also reviewed various measures being initiated by concerned ministries to allow partial economic activity in "non-hotspot zones" from April 20. "The GoM obtained feedback from various ministers on the overall situation," said the source.

The meeting was attended by Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar. HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Zubin Irani, Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Civil Aviation Minsister Hardeep Singh Puri were also in attendence.

The coronavirus spread to 54 more districts in India since the last update on April 10. Total number of districts affected by coronavirus stood at 408 as of April 17.

A case was filed against some officials of the health department of the Manipur government after substandard N95 masks were seized by police in a raid at the Central Medical Directorate in Lamphel, officials said on Saturday.

The raid was conducted by a special team of the Vigilance and Anti-corruption Police Station on Friday after allegations were levelled that substandard masks were supplied to the district hospital in Churachandpur, they said. The team seized 1,250 N95 masks and samples of other medical protective gear, police officials said.

On April 14, 200 defective N95 masks were found to have been supplied to the district hospital, they said. "The defective masks, supposed to be used in the isolation ward, were, however, returned on the same day and replaced with new ones," a senior official said.

Besides the Directorate of Health officials, proprietors of five firms and some unknown persons have been booked, police said. Further investigations are underway.

Source: PTI

The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh has constituted an advisory committee, comprising Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi and 12 others, to deal with the Covid-19 crisis.

BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan took over as Chief Minister of the state on March 23. No full-time health minister was appointed as coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent lockdown delayed cabinet formation. The government is drawing flak for not having a dedicated health minister amidst a pandemic.

"Considering the rise in Covid-19 cases, the government set up an advisory committee, comprising eight doctors, a retired IAS and a retired IPS officer, apart from Satyarthi," an official from the general administration department said on Saturday.

Former chief secretary Nirmala Buch, retired IPS officer Sarabjeet Singh, president of MP Nursing Home Association Dr Jitendra Jamdar and state president of the Indian Medical Association Dr Mukul Tiwari are also part of the panel. The additional chief secretary of public health and family welfare will be the coordinator of this committee, the official said.

Source: PTI

The Gujarat government has decided to carry out plasma transfusion treatment on Covid-19 patients in the state, particularly those in critical condition, to boost their immunity, health officials said.

In this treatment, the plasma extracted from the blood of a fully recovered patient is injected into the critical patient to help their body generate antibodies to fight the virus. An antibody is a protein produced mainly by plasma cells that is used by the immune system to neutralize bacteria and viruses.

The civil hospital in Ahmedabad and the civic body-run SVP Hospital have submitted a detailed proposal for the treatment to the Indian Council of Medical Research for approval, Principal Secretary, Health, Jayanti Ravi, said. "We have learned that the ICMR has given approval to the Kerala government for such plasma transfusion treatment."

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, which runs SVP Hospital, has already taken consent of some plasma donors. "SVP Hospital is ready to start plasma treatment once we get permission from ICMR. We have also convinced some donors, who are fully recovered from coroavirus infection, to give their plasma for treatment of others," Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner Vijay Nehra said.

Source: PTI

The Odisha police has come out with an initiative through which policemen will contact women who had earlier reported domestic violence to enquire about their condition over phone during the ongoing lockdown, an official said on Saturday. The special drive has been launched across the state to deal with the problems of domestic violence in the crisis period, he said.

The initiative will be implemented with the help of the State Crime Record Bureau, the official said. The SCRB has contacts of women who had experienced domestic violence in the past, and they will be contacted to find out their present condition, a senior officer of the state police headquarters said.

If violence is reported, physical verification will be conducted to find out the condition of a victim and the matter will be intimated to the Investigative Units for Crime against Women for follow up action, he said. "This will address the issues related to domestic violence against women during the lockdown imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19," the official said.

Source: PTI

Action would be taken against healthcare personnel if any patient needing immediate attention is turned away from hospitals without treatment, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan warned.

Chairing a video conference with Delhi LG Anil Baijal, Health Minister Satyendar Jain and medical superintendents of major central and city government hospitals and municipal commissioners of Delhi, Vardhan said he has received complaints about denial of treatment to people suffering from critical ailments, other than Covid-19.

"We need to take a serious view against this denial of treatment to patients who have been visiting hospitals in case of emergency and are being forced to visit a number of hospitals, one after another resulting in denial of immediate medical attention which may result in loss of their lives," the minister said on Friday.

He instructed all the medical superintendents to take proper care of non-Covid patients. "It is a testing time for everybody. Patients who are really ill and require urgent medical attention are venturing out with great difficulty to reach the hospital," Vardhan said. "We should not turn them away on any kind of flimsy pretext as certain procedures like blood transfusion, dialysis etc can't wait."

He said action would be taken against healthcare personnel if a patient needing immediate attention is turned away from hospitals without treatment. Patients may also be provided services through tele-consultation and digital prescription, Vardhan added. "We need preemptive, proactive, and effective measures to treat all patients including those from vulnerable sections."

Source: PTI

At least 21 Indian Navy personnel serving at the Western Naval Command in Mumbai have tested positive for coronavirus, triggering concerns among the top military brass.

It is the first such case of a sizeable number of military personnel being treated for Covid-19. The Indian Army has reported eight cases of the deadly virus so far.

"A total of 21 serving personnel have been tested positive for Covid-19 within naval premises at Mumbai. This number includes 20 sailors of INS Angre, a shore establishment," the Navy said in a statement. There has been no case of coronavirus onboard any of the ships or submarines of the Indian Navy. All the infected personnel are undergoing treatment at a naval hospital in Mumbai.

Most of the people infected had come in contact with a sailor who had tested positive for Covid-19 on April 7. "They all reside in the same accommodation block at INS Angre. All primary contacts were tested. Entire in-living block was immediately put under quarantine," the Navy said, adding the INS Angre too has been put under total lockdown.

Source: PTI

India added 543 new cases of Covid-19 taking the total number of cases in the country to 14,378.

• Active cases: 11,906
• Cured/discharged/migrated: 1,992
• Deaths: 480

Gujarat became the latest state in India to cross 1,000 cases of Covid-19. There are now six such states that contribute more than half of the total confirmed cases in India.

The total number of confirmed Covid-19 infections in India rose further on Saturday to near the 15,000-mark.

India added 957 new cases since last evening taking the total to 14,792, according to the health ministry’s update on Saturday morning. This includes 2,015 patients who have recovered or migrated and 488 deaths.

While it took the country 70 days to report its first 5,000 cases, the next 9,000 have been confirmed in just ten days, indicating a rise in the rate of infection. Still, Friday saw the highest number of recoveries in a single day in India.

Global Update:

President Donald Trump said the U.S. has enough testing capacity to allow for a phased reopening of the economy. The U.K. said it can see early signs of the lockdown working. Spain had the most new cases in a week, while Russia reported another record daily increase in new infections.

Cases in Singapore continued to climb as authorities detected more infections among foreign workers living in dormitories. China pledged stronger policies after the pandemic pushed its economy into its first contraction in decades.

Total cases globally, topped 2.2 million, according to data by John Hopkins, while more than 1,53,000 people have died.

Track latest news updates and developments on how the coronavirus situation is evolving in India here