With a recovery rate now standing at 29.36 %, India on Friday registered 3,390 new COVID-19 positive cases with 103 deaths taking the total number to 56,342 cases and 1,886 deaths.
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The country currently has 37,916 active cases and so far a total of 16,540 people have been cured.
Data from State Health Departments put the nationwide death toll at 1,963 with a total number of 58,895 cases of which 38,354 are active cases. Maharashtra reported 1,089 new patients, taking the total tally to 19,063. The State also reported 37 more deaths, taking the death toll to 731.
Gujarat reported 390 new cases, taking its tally to 7,403, while the death toll rose to 449 with 24 more deaths in the last 24 hours.
“The recovery rate is continuously increasing which currently means that almost 1 out of every 3 patients who were hospitalised has been recovered/cured. It is noted that on an average, 3.2% patients are on oxygen support, 4.7% of patients are in ICU, and 1.1% patients are on ventilator support,” Joint secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Aggarwal said at the daily press briefing. He added that Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has initiated a multi-centre clinical trial called PLACID trial — “Phase-II Open-Label, Randomised Controlled Trial — to assess the safety and efficacy of Convalescent Plasma to Limit COVID-19 associated complications in moderate disease”.
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“The study has received approval from the COVID-19 National Ethics Committee (CONEC) on April 29. ICMR has shortlisted 21 institutes for PLACID trial. These include five hospitals in Maharashtra; four in Gujarat; two each in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh; and one each in Punjab, Karnataka, Telangana and Chandigarh,” he said.
The Health Ministry noted that currently there are 216 districts which have not reported any cases till date.
“As many as 42 districts have seen no fresh cases in the last 28 days, while 29 districts have seen no fresh cases in the last 21 days. A total of 36 districts have seen no fresh cases in the last 14 days, and 46 districts have seen no fresh cases in the last 7 days,” a release said.
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Stating that some States like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, U.P. have reported more cases, Mr. Agarwal said, “It is important to strengthen containment efforts. Today, when we are talking of relaxations and return of migrant workers, we have to understand that we also have to learn to live with the virus. The preventive guidelines against the virus need to be implemented as behavioural changes.”
The Ministry of Health noted that it has issued additional guidelines for States facility quarantine/ facility isolation in hotels, service apt, lodges etc., for returnees from abroad/contacts/ isolation of suspects or confirmed cases.
“There are large number of facilities such as hotels, service apartments, lodges which remain unoccupied due to impact of COVID-19 on travel and tourism. There are also instances where people who don’t have requisite space at home and may opt for such facilities. This is likely to reduce the pressure on the family, give comfort to the person, and protect the family members and immediate neighbourhood,” states the guidelines.
It adds that facility owner of the quarantine/isolation facility shall make additional arrangements including — ensuring in-house availability of a trained doctor and a nurse on 24X7 basis, the doctor will monitor the contacts/cases in quarantine/isolation facilities once a day on basic parameters of temperature, pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and pulse oxymetry and keep record of the same.
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“The doctor engaged by the facility will inform the District Surveillance Officer regarding the list of cases/contacts admitted to such facility and their health status,” the guideline said.
The quarantined/isolated persons should not be allowed to meet visitors but the facility will provide Wi-Fi facility and ensure that the client downloads the Aarogya Setu App on mobile.
