Cases cross 3,000; death toll rises to 75
New Delhi: Even after witnessing a significant rise in the number of COVID-19 positive cases and death toll reaching 75, the Centre on Saturday assured people that there is no "need to panic" as the situation in India is still "stable".
Citing global figures, Health Ministry's Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said: "We have reported 525 positive cases in a single day, while the global figure is of over 75,800 new cases in a day and above 4,000 deaths. We have been able to 'control' the pandemic due to stringent action and coordinated efforts."
However, the official further said out of the total 3,072 positive cases, 1,023 confirmed cases are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat, which is 33 per cent of the total figure and it's reported from just "one place" as "we couldn't understand and manage it".
According to the Union Health Ministry's latest data, with an increase of 525 new cases in the last 24 hours, a total of 3,072 confirmed cases were reported on Saturday, out of which 2,784 are active, 213 have recovered and the number of deaths has increased from 62 to 75.
Agarwal further maintained: "The testing capacity has been ramped up significantly to over 10,000 per day from previous 5,000 tests. At present, 75,000 tests have been conducted so far, while the number of government labs has increased to over 130 and several private labs have also been allowed."
Ending the speculation that senior citizens are most vulnerable to COVID-19, the Health Ministry stated that people belonging to age groups of 21 to 40 years are widely affected as 41 per cent cases belong to this age category, while 33 per cent are from the age group of 41 to 60 years and 17 per cent patients belong to above 60 years.
The good news is that Coronavirus has hit just 9 per cent belonging to the age group of 0 to 20 years. Also, till now 58 critical cases have been reported and most of those cases have come from Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi and most of the elderly, who died due to COVID-19 infection, were suffering from diabetics, hypertension, kidney and cardiac issues.
Given the highly infectious nature of the virus, over 50 doctors and medical staff have tested positive. The infection among doctors has posed a serious threat on the treating mechanism as several medical staff and patients attended by the infected doctors have been quarantined leading to the closure of a number of treatment units and wards.
According to a Health ministry official, there are over 50 cases of the medical staff that have tested COVID-19 positive and it may increase further due to 'unavailability' of quality Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and N-95 masks for treating doctors across the country.
The ministry has also issued guidelines for the states on the method of supplying oxygen to the medical facilities handling COVID-19 patients. "All hospitals and staff concerned must be told to ensure timely requisitions and payments so that there is no disruption in the oxygen supply," the ministry added.
