Coronavirus India Updates: Total Cases Top 1.06 Lakh; Over 3,300 Dead

India maintained the pace of new infections, now the fastest among Asian countries, reporting the highest spike so far.

India added 5611 new cases of coronavirus in 24 hours, taking the total tally to 1,01,139 in Asia’s third-largest economy, according to the health ministry’s update as of 8 a.m. on May 20. This includes 3,303 deaths and 42,298 patients who have recovered.

Active cases have gone beyond the 60,000-mark.

With cases on the rise, the government last week announced a third extension of the lockdown till May 31, albeit with easing of some restrictions. India announced the world’s most stringent stay-at-home restrictions on March 25, with Modi extending it first until May 3 and then again till May 17.

Global Updates:

President Donald Trump called the country’s 1.5 million cases a “badge of honor” for U.S. testing efforts. New York City is struggling to meet the standards to reopen and still seeing rising hospital admissions, while Governor Andrew Cuomo hailed progress in the state capital region and Long Island.

Brazil is now the world’s fastest-growing virus hot spot, accounting for 13% of new cases globally in the past week. Russia’s prime minister returned to office three weeks after testing positive -- a period that saw total cases in the country almost triple to just under 300,000.

Total cases globally topped 4.8 million and more than 3,22,000 dead.

The Indian Railways will start operations of 200 passenger services from June 1.

The booking for these trains will start from 10 a.m. on May 21. These special services will be in addition to the 30 existing Shramik special trains and Special air conditioned trains already running.

Rest all trains will continue to remain cancelled for now.

• Only online ticketing will be done through the IRCTC website or through the mobile app. No tickets will be sold through reservation counters on any station.
• Booking of tickets through ‘agents’ is not permitted.
• No tatkal and premium tatkal booking shall be permitted in these trains.
• All passengers to be compulsorily screened and only asymptomatic passengers are allowed to enter /board the train.
• All passengers must wear face covers/masks at the entry and during travel.
• The passengers must reach the station at-least 90 minutes in advance to facilitate thermal screening at the station.
• All quotas shall be permitted in these special trains as has been permitted in Regular trains.
• No catering charges shall be included in the fare. Provision for prepaid meal booking and e-catering to be disabled.
• IRCTC to make provision for limited eatables and packaged drinking water on payment basis only in limited trains, having pantry car attached.
• Passengers are encouraged to carry their own food and drinking water.

India’s Department of Fisheries has released an app that will allow for the home delivery of fishes amid the lockdown.

Kerala recorded 24 new Covid-19 cases in the state taking the total number of active cases to 161.

This is just more than a week after the state had seen its total active cases fall to less than 30. The state has now recorded 666 infections. Of the 24 new cases, 12 have returned from abroad while 11 have returned from other states. One person was infected by contact.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Indian government will help migrants in returning back to cities when industrial activities resume after the lockdown.

"We will have to see how best we are going to work this out with the companies and also with migrants who may want to return," Sitharaman said in an interview to ANI. "There is a lot of work to be done by the Centre, the states and companies."

The Indian Council of Medical Research today said that over 25 lakh tests for Covid-19 have been done in the country so far.

As of 12:30 p.m., 25.36 lakh tests had been done. Of these, 1.07 lakh tests were done on Tuesday marking the second consecutive day of over 1 lakh tests.

There are a total of 555 laboratories that are active. 164 labs are private.

Of the over 60,000 active Covid-19 cases in India, only 2.9 percent require oxygen support, India’s health ministry said today.

This is an important data point as it shows that early identification has helped in improving the recovery rate, joint health secretary Lav Agarwal said in a press briefing. The health ministry said that 3 pecrent of the active cases are admitted to intensive care units while less 0.5 percent require a ventilator.

India will open some domestic flights in a calibrated manner from May 25, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in a Twitter post.

All airports and airlines are being informed to be ready for operations, according to Puri. The aviation ministry will separately issue standard operating procedures for passenger movement, he added.

Indian airlines have been barred from commercial operations since March 25.

Around 500 personnel of the Kolkata Police Combat Force staged a protest here, alleging that they were being deployed in areas where chances of contracting Covid-19 are high, a senior official said on Wednesday.

The policemen demonstrated inside the Police Training School complex on Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road late on Tuesday, he said.

Sources said they gheraoed the vehicle of Deputy Commissioner of Police, Combat Battalion, Col Nevendera Singh Paul when he tried to initiate a dialogue with them, and allegedly vandalised his vehicle.

"We are being sent on duty in high-risk areas. There are several policemen who have been infected with the virus. This cannot go on," a police officer of the Combat Force told PTI.

When contacted, a senior police officer of Kolkata Police said an investigation has been launched to ascertain the facts.

"An investigation is underway. There can be disappointment among the policemen regarding the duty schedule, but no acts of indiscipline will not be tolerated...," he said.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had visited the complex and assured the agitating police personnel of looking into their demands.

Source: PTI

The departure of Howrah-New Delhi AC Special Express for Wednesday has been cancelled owing to the super cyclone 'Amphan', the Eastern Railway said here.

It said that since the system is most likely to cause heavy rain and storm, the departure of 02301 Howrah-New Delhi AC Special Express on Wednesday and 02302 New Delhi-Howrah AC Special Express on May 21 would remain cancelled.

The Met department in an advisory asked for stoppage or diversion of train movements owing to damage likely to be caused by the super cyclonic storm.

Source: PTI

Invasive technique should not be adopted for forensic autopsy in Covid-19death cases as mortuary staff are exposed to potentially dangerous health risks due to organ fluids and secretions even after taking the highest precautions, the ICMR has said.

The Indian Council of Medical Research, in its 'Standard Guidelines for Medico-legal autopsy in Covid-19 deaths in India', said, "It will prevent the spread of infection to doctors, mortuary staff, police persons and all the people in chain of dead body disposal."

According to the guidelines, the deaths in hospital and under medical care due to coronavirus infection is a non-MLC case and doesn't require postmortem examination and the required certification of death will be done by treating doctors.

Bodies of suspected Covid-19 patients, which are brought to hospital, may be labelled as medico legal cases by the doctor in emergency and it will be sent to mortuary and police will be informed, which may necessitate a medicolegal autopsy for clarity in the cause of death.

"The forensic autopsy of these cases may be waived off," the guidelines said.

Source: PTI

India is now among the nations worst hit by the epidemic, with a 28 percent increase in cases since last week according to Bloomberg’s Coronavirus Tracker. Neighbor and nuclear rival Pakistan has 43,966 cases including 939 deaths. Its cases increased by 19 percent over the same period, the tracker showed.

Authorities from across the country reported a 5,611 Covid-19 infections in the 24 hours preceding the Health Ministry's 8 a.m. update, taking the total tally to 1,06,750.

• Active cases: 61,149
• Cured/discharged/migrated: 42,298
• Deaths: 3,303

3124 people recovered while 140 succumbed to the illness in the last 24 hours.

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