Covid-19; 267 Recovered and Discharged, 472 new cases, 79 death: Health Ministry
New Delhi: The novel coronavirus has claimed the lives of 79 people and affected at least 3,374 in the country so far, said Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday while adding that 267 persons have recovered and discharged from hospital.
Addressing its daily press conference over the coronavirus outbreak in India, the Health Ministry said that 11 deaths and 472 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the last 24 hours. The Health Ministry further said that the doubling rate of COVID-19 cases in India is presently at 4.1 days.
“Our doubling rate (in how many days the number of COVID-19 cases gets double) at present is 4.1 days. But if additional cases reported due to the Tablighi Jamaat event, had not taken place, then the doubling rate would have been 7.4 days,” Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said.
The Health Ministry further said that the deadly coronavirus has affected 274 districts in India so far. Agarwal dismissed the reports that there is a shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and N95 masks, saying domestic manufacturers have started the production and the government has also started procuring them from the countries where it is available.
“We’ve discussed this with all Health secretaries, chief secretaries and DMs as this is one of the major issues. We’ve explained to them that PPEs available with us have been already immediately dispatched to the states based on case-load basis,” he said.
“Need to understand that allotment done by us is based on cases reported in states and we’re parallelly making an effort to see that how should its procurement be increased. It has started easing out, in coming weeks we’ll be able to manage these issues to a large extent,” he added.
Agarwal also stressed that lockdown and social distancing are the only ways to combat the infection that has claimed the lives of over 50,000 people across the world.
The government officials also said that state governments have been asked to ensure that the lockdown is strictly followed while adding that there supply of essential services is “satisfactory” and more than 75 Lakh needy people are being provided food everyday.
“27,661 relief camps and shelters have been set up in all states across India – 23,924 by governments and 3,737 by NGOs. 12.5 Lakh people are taking shelter in them. 19,460 food camps have also been set up – 9,951 by governments and 9,509 by NGOs,” Ministry of Home Affaris Joint Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava said, as quoted by ANI.
