India Cases, Faulty Testing Kits, Stories Of Hope: 10 Corona Developments You Must Know
The lowdown on all the major coronavirus-related developments
It has been 29 days since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown on 24 March. On Wednesday, the total number of COVID-19 cases in India stood at 20,471 with the virus claiming over 650 lives. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu have reported maximum number of cases so far—with Maharashtra alone having reported over 5,000 confirmed coronavirus cases.
India is now the 17th country to cross the mark of 20,000 confirmed coronavirus cases. Here, find details on all the major developments related to the coronavirus pandemic you need to know:
1. India cases and toll: According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country stands at 20,471. Of these, 15,859 are active cases while 3,959 people have been discharged, while 652 have succumbed to the illness.
2. Maharashtra leads the pack: Maharashtra has been reporting a significant surge in numbers since the last week. The total number of COVID-19 cases in the western state now stands at 5,221, with 251 people losing their lives to the virus. The state government has now reinforced a total lockdown in Mumbai and Pune and has asked the central government to arrange for special trains to take migrant workers back to their home states.
3. Where Delhi stands: After Maharashtra and Gujarat, Delhi has reported the maximum cases of COVID-19 in India—2,156 active cases, 611 people discharged and 47 dead. With cases rising, several parts of the city are now being classified as containment zones—Delhi has a total of 84 such zones currently—where lockdown guidelines will be enforced more strictly.
4. Surge in Gujarat, Rajasthan: Among the other states, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh have reported big jumps in coronavirus cases. Between Tuesday and Wedn...
It has been 29 days since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown on 24 March. On Wednesday, the total number of COVID-19 cases in India stood at 20,471 with the virus claiming over 650 lives. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu have reported maximum number of cases so far—with Maharashtra alone having reported over 5,000 confirmed coronavirus cases.
India is now the 17th country to cross the mark of 20,000 confirmed coronavirus cases. Here, find details on all the major developments related to the coronavirus pandemic you need to know:
1. India cases and toll: According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country stands at 20,471. Of these, 15,859 are active cases while 3,959 people have been discharged, while 652 have succumbed to the illness.
2. Maharashtra leads the pack: Maharashtra has been reporting a significant surge in numbers since the last week. The total number of COVID-19 cases in the western state now stands at 5,221, with 251 people losing their lives to the virus. The state government has now reinforced a total lockdown in Mumbai and Pune and has asked the central government to arrange for special trains to take migrant workers back to their home states.
3. Where Delhi stands: After Maharashtra and Gujarat, Delhi has reported the maximum cases of COVID-19 in India—2,156 active cases, 611 people discharged and 47 dead. With cases rising, several parts of the city are now being classified as containment zones—Delhi has a total of 84 such zones currently—where lockdown guidelines will be enforced more strictly.
4. Surge in Gujarat, Rajasthan: Among the other states, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh have reported big jumps in coronavirus cases. Between Tuesday and Wednesday morning, Gujarat had reported 112 new cases, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases to 2,272. In Rajasthan, where confirmed cases stand at 1,801, the Ramganj area of Jaipur city has emerged as a hotspot with 300 COVID-19 positive patients.
5. Delhi-Noida border sealed: As part of a precautionary measure, the Gautam Buddh Nagar administration in Uttar Pradesh, under which Noida falls, announced on Tuesday that the Delhi-Noida border will be sealed. Gautam Buddh Nagar has also emerged as a hotspot with over 100 confirmed coronavirus cases. Ghaziabad, another district in Uttar Pradesh, has also sealed its borders with Delhi. Only those providing essential services will be allowed to cross over.
6. Faulty testing kits: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has now asked all states to stop using rapid testing kits recently procured from China until Thursday. Rajasthan first raised a complaint regarding inaccurate detection. This is likely to hit India’s plan to ramp up rapid testing across the country. India is now looking to countries such as South Korea to import rapid test kits.
Earlier, some reports had suggested that certain countries—Spain and Czech Republic—also reported problems with rapid testing kits sourced from Chinese firms.
7. Corona warriors: The central government has created a master database of 1.24 crore healthcare professionals and volunteers. The database includes nurses, MBBS students, ASHA and Anganwadi workers and veterinary doctors among others. These details are now available on the website: covidwarriors.gov.in.
8. Global corona update: According to Worldometer, a website providing real-time data on coronavirus cases, the total number of COVID-19 cases stands at 25,85,195. Over 7 lakh people have recovered while 1.79 lakh people lost their lives to coronavirus. Globally, the US has so far reported the maximum number of cases—8,19,321 cases and 45,356 fatalities so far. In Europe, Spain and Italy have reported maximum cases at 2,08,389 and 1,83,957 confirmed cases respectively.
9. Cure for corona: While researchers across the world are looking for a cure to fight COVID-19, ICMR has given the go ahead for clinical trials on patients at public hospitals to test the efficacy of plasma therapy, Business Standard reported Tuesday. Under this treatment, the plasma from a COVID-19 recovered patient will be transferred to a critically-ill patient.
Meanwhile, according to a report by indiatoday.in, scientists at the University of Oxford are working on a vaccine for coronavirus, which will be available by September.
10. Stories of hope: In these difficult times when people are on the edge, many have also come forward to help others. A taxi driver in Spain, who has been ferrying patients to a hospital in Madrid free of cost, was cheered by the hospital staff in a video that has now gone viral.
"Es una sorpresa que le hemos dado a un taxista que lleva a pacientes sin cobrar al hospital.Le hemos dado un sobre con dinero y una dedicatoria.Le hemos llamado para decirle que tenía que hacer un traslado y ha sido muy emocionante. No paraba de llorar."Gracias a el y a ellos. pic.twitter.com/CcXX1BVfko
— #ElTaxiUnido (@eltaxiunido) April 18, 2020
Similarly, in Coimbatore, Tamil writer ‘Auto Chandran’ helped a woman in labour deliver a baby on the roadside. Read this heartwarming story here.