No new COVID-19 cases from 25 districts in 15 states in last 14 days
New Delhi: Even as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to surge in India, there seems to be a silver lining coming our way. At least 25 districts across 15 states in India have not reported a single case in the last two weeks despite having reported cases earlier.
India on Monday reported total 9,352 confirmed cases, out of which 8,048 are active, 980 recoveries and 324 deaths. Maharashtra reported the highest number of positive cases at 1,985 cases followed by Delhi that has 1,154 confirmed cases and Tamil Nadu (1,075). Maharashtra has reported 149 deaths followed by Madhya Pradesh (43) and Gujarat (26).
The 25 districts that have not reported even a single Corona positive case include Karnataka's Davangiri, Kodagu, Tumkuru and Udupi districts; Bihar's Munger, Patna and Nalanda; Haryana's Panipat, Rohtak and Sirsa; Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon, Durg and Bilaspur; Kerala's Wayanad and Kottayam.
The list also includes Maharashtra's Gondia district, Goa's South Goa district, Manipur's West Imphal district, Mizoram's Aizwal West district, Puducherry's Mahe, SBS Nagar in Punjab, Rajouri in Jammu & Kashmir, Pratapgarh in Rajasthan, Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand and Bhadradri Kothagudem in Telangana.
Health Secretary Luv Agarwal said 905 new positive cases and 51 deaths due to the Coronavirus were recorded in the last 24 hours in the country. The ministry also said that over two lakh tests for COVID-19 have been conducted so far.
Emphasising on India's use of technology to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the Health ministry has underlined how infrastructure from smart cities is being used to fight the outbreak at the local level.
Talking about India's preparedness to conduct tests, ICMR's senior official Raman R Gangakhedkar reassured that there is no need to worry about testing kits as at present there is enough stock to conduct tests for six weeks.
"So far, we have tested a total of 2,06,612 samples and 14,855 samples in a day. There are 225 operational labs out of which 156 are in the government system and 69 are private labs," the ICMR official said.
Meanwhile, hours after the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Monday submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court, urging it to dismiss the petition on which it ordered free testing for COVID-19 in private laboratories, the Apex Court stated that the benefit of free testing in private labs is only for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and for those covered by Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) scheme.
The Supreme Court also asked the Central government to inform within a week, about any other EWS are also eligible for free tests.
