India's COVID-19 tally nears 4 lakh with record spike in several states; 54 pc patients recover
"Around 54.13 per cent of the patients have recovered so far," an official said.
The total number of coronavirus cases stood at 3,95,048, including 2,13,830 patients who have been cured, according to the Union Health Ministry.
Saturday saw the highest spike of 14,516 in a single day and 375 more deaths. It was the ninth consecutive day that the country had registered over 10,000 cases.
The country reported 2,04,513 infections in June with Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh registering the highest rise in COVID-19 cases.
As the COVID-19 surge continues, states have moved to put a cap on testing and treatment prices.
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) approved recommendations of the High Level Expert Committee for fixing rates of hospital beds for treatment of coronavirus patients.
Rates for isolation bed, ICUs without and with ventilator in all hospitals have been capped at Rs 8000-10000, Rs13000-15000 and Rs 15000-18000 respectively.
With 3,630 new cases, the total number of coronavirus cases reached 56,746 in Delhi, while the death toll climbed to 2,112.
The Delhi government has ordered to cancel leaves of all the staff working in its hospitals and medical institutions with immediate effect.
The order issued on June 19 also said leave of any kind will be granted to anyone under "most compelling circumstances".
The Rajasthan government has set a price cap on coronavirus screening tests in private hospitals and laboratories in the state at Rs 2,200, an order issued on Saturday stated.
Additional Chief Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said following the instructions of ICMR, the ceiling for screening of COVID-19 in private testing laboratories was fixed at Rs 4,500 per test.
But, the state government has set this rate at Rs 2,200 through the powers vested under Section 4 of the Rajasthan Pandemic Ordinance, 2020, with a view to provide easy and accessible screening facility to the public at low prices, he said.
The worst affected Maharashtra recorded 3,874 coronavirus cases on Saturday taking the state tally to 1,28,205. The total fatalities rose to 5,984 with 160 new deaths.
As many as 1,197 new coronavirus patients were reported in Mumbai which has 65,265 cases so far.
The financial capital of the country also recorded 136 deaths due to the pandemic, which is the highest single-day figure, said a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) release. The death toll in the city thus rose to 3,559.
There was some relief for the city as the Dharavi slum, which was once a COVID-19 hotspot, on Saturday recorded only seven new cases, which is the lowest such rise in a single day, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said.
Dharavi's case count now stands at 2,158.
Tamil Nadu reported a record single-day spike of 2,396 fresh COVID-19 cases, registering over 2,000 infections for a fourth straight day as the overall tally rose to 56,845 in the state, the Health department said.
Chennai continued to clock a majority of the cases among districts with 1,254 today, pushing the overall tally to 39,641 till date.
As many as 1,045 were discharged across the state on Saturday, taking the number of recoveries to 31,316 in the state.
The state government has announced a 12-day lockdown which came into effect from Friday as part of its measures to curb the spread of the virus as Chennai and neighbouring districts have been constituting the bulk of infections in the state.
Chief Minister K Palaniswami described it as a 'speed breaker', saying the curbs were being used to further augment detection of COVID-19 cases in Chennai by conducting more door to door surveys and fever camps.
Kerala's COVID-19 tally breached the 3,000 mark on Saturday with 127 people testing positive for the virus, the highest single day surge.
The infection count in the state has touched 3,039, while 1,450 people are presently under treatment and 1.39 lakh people under observation, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters here.
Puducherry recorded 52 fresh cases of COVID-19, also its highest single day spike so far, taking the tally of infections in the Union Territory to 338.
Telangana witnessed its biggest spike of 546, pushing the tally to 7,072 and fatalities to 203.
Arunachal Pradesh registered its highest single-day number as 32 more people tested positive.
The fresh cases raised the virus count in the northeastern state to 135 on Friday, the official said.
Gujarat reported 539 new coronavirus patients on Saturday which took the tally of cases in the state to 26,737, the health department said.
The Gujarat High Court on Saturday ordered a stay on holding of annual Rath Yatra procession here due to coronavirus concerns.
A division bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice JB Pardiwala stayed all secular and religious activities related to the Rath Yatra, after taking into consideration submissions made by a petitioner and respondents as well as the recent Supreme Court's order staying the Puri's Rath Yatra.
The state government had informed that the yatra covers a route of around 18 km and approximately 7-8 lakh people will participate in it.
In a significant development, Drug firm Glenmark Pharmaceuticals said it has launched antiviral drug Favipiravir, under the brand name FabiFlu, for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 cases at a price of about Rs 103 per tablet.
The drug will be available as a 200 mg tablet at a maximum retail price (MRP) of Rs 3,500 for a strip of 34 tablets, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals said.
FabiFlu is the first oral favipiravir-approved medication in India for the treatment of COVID-19, it said in a statement.
It is a prescription-based medication, with recommended dose being 1,800 mg twice daily on day one, followed by 800 mg twice daily up to day 14, it added.
The tablets are being produced by the company at its Baddi facility in Himachal Pradesh. The drug will be available both through hospitals and the retail channel, Glenmark said.
India is the fourth worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the US, Brazil and Russia. According to the Johns Hopkins University, which has been compiling COVID-19 data from all over the world, India is at the eighth position in terms of the death toll.
Of the total 12,948 deaths, Maharashtra accounted for the highest 5,893 fatalities followed by Delhi with 2,035 deaths, Gujarat with 1,618, Tamil Nadu with 666, West Bengal with 529, Madhya Pradesh with 495, Uttar Pradesh with 488, Rajasthan with 333 and Telangana with 198 deaths.
More than 70 per cent deaths took place due to comorbidities, the ministry said.
The number of government labs has been increased to 715 and private labs has been increased to 259 (a total of 974), the ministry said.
In the last 24 hours, 1,89,869 samples were tested. The total number of samples tested is 66,16,496, it said. ASK VIT KND MR UD VIJ SJR RT