Coronavirus India Updates: Tally Tops 67.5 Lakh Even As Active Cases Fall
Track the latest updates on the Covid-19 pandemic in India, here.
Active coronavirus cases in India continued to fall, in a positive turn for the country with the second most cases in the world, as fresh infections remained below the 80,000-mark for the fifth straight day.
India added over 72,000 fresh cases in 24 hours taking the total tally past 67.5 lakh in Asia’s third-largest economy, according to the Health Ministry’s update as of 8 a.m. on Oct. 7. This includes over 1.04 lakh deaths and 57.4 lakh patients who have recovered.
Key figures:
- Total number of confirmed coronavirus cases: 67,57,131
- Active cases: 9,07,883
- Cured/discharged/migrated: 57,44,693
- Deaths: 1,04,555
- Fresh cases in 24 hours: 72,049
- One-day recoveries: 82,203
- One-day deaths: 986
The drop in fresh cases, coupled with the rise in recoveries has led to a significant decline in active cases. India reported 10.17 active cases on Sept. 18, which has fallen to little over 9 lakh in a matter of 19 days. They now stand for less than 14% of India’s total case load.
Kerala has seen the largest increase in active cases over the last one month, according to Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan. Between Sept. 8 and Oct. 6, active cases in Kerala have almost quadrupled, he said in a press conference on Tuesday.
Bhushan, however, also denied any correlation between India’s infrastructure facilities and the number of Covid-19 deaths. Other countries with far better health infrastructure have also seen a large number of deaths due to Covid, he said.
His comments come at a time when over 1.04 lakh people in India have died due to the novel coronavirus. While that is only 1.5% of the total confirmed cases in the country, it still is the third-highest death toll in the world behind U.S. and Brazil.
India has reported more than 1,000 daily deaths for 25 of the last 30 days.
Global Update
Germany’s new coronavirus cases jumped the most since mid-April, highlighting Europe’s struggles to keep the pandemic in check. Italy’s government is set to order stricter rules, including a decree that masks be worn outdoors.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his government is working to get the country “back to normal” by this time next year.
Globally, coronavirus cases have topped 35.6 million with 1.04 million of them dead as of Wednesday morning.
Track the latest updates on the Covid-19 pandemic in India, here.
High Court Suggests Maharashtra Government To Increase Frequency Of Local Trains
Noting that railway services need to correspond with the partial lifting of lockdown, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday suggested an increase in the frequency of local trains being run in Mumbai to check overcrowding.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni said currently the Maharashtra government has permitted several sectors to resume and hence, it is high time the frequency of trains is also increased.
"We are now in partial lockdown. Malls are open, hotels are allowed to remain open, government offices are working with 100% staff and several other sectors are now working. Railway services need to correspond with this," the court said.
"The frequency of local trains on all three lines (western, central and harbour lines) has to be increased to reduce overcrowding, the bench said.
The court directed the state government to consider its suggestions and see if it can forward a proposal to the Railways for an increase in the frequency of trains.
The bench was hearing a bunch of petitions, seeking a direction to the Maharashtra government to include lawyers and their clerical staff under essential services and permit them to use the local trains to attend court and their office.
Source: PTI