India’s coronavirus deaths and new cases more than doubled in the past five days on Wednesday as the country reported increase in tests from around 60,000 as of April 2 to around 1,15,000 tests conducted till April 7, indicating strong link between the extent of testing and identification of positive cases.
According to Ministry of Health data, 9 pm on Wednesday, the number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in India stood at 5,349, including 149 deaths. On April 4, the active cases of people suffering from coronavirus disease was 2,600 and 56 deaths.
This is significant because the Government has repeatedly claimed that the cases had spiked due to detection of huge numbers of infections among delegates of religious congregation in Nizamuddin in Delhi.
According to figures collected from States till 9 pm, on Wednesday, the financial capital of the country, Maharashtra, alone accounts for 72 deaths followed by Madhya Pradesh (21), Gujarat (16), and Telangana (11).
At least 773 new infections and 32 deaths due to COVID-19 were reported in 24 hours. Till date total 402 people have been discharged, said Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary in the Union Health Ministry at a Press briefing here.
To add to the agony of the health authorities, in not all cases the virus show its symptoms immediately infecting a person.
Agarwal said asymptomatic people as carriers of infection is one of the biggest challenges to contain the spread of coronavirus.
An asymptomatic person does not show symptoms, but can still pass the virus to others. “We are actually dealing with a very huge challenge along with the rest of the world. In this particular infectious disease, not only people who are symptomatic, but even asymptomatic persons as a carrier may pass on the infection”, he said.
States that have the most coronavirus cases are Maharashtra (1,135), Tamil Nadu (738), Delhi (576), Telangana (453), Rajasthan (363) and Kerala (336). The first three States account for 43 per cent of the total cases in the country while the geographical spread of coronavirus outbreak in India has now extended to 30 States and Union Territories with Tripura being the latest to report Covid-19 cases.
With cases on increase, the testing across the country has nearly doubled in the last couple of days.
This suggests that as other States ramp up testing, more cases could get reported from those States as well.
Around 121,271 cases have been tested so far and 13,345 tests are done in a day through 139 labs under ICMR and 65 private laboratories, said a senior scientist from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
And with the Supreme Court on Wednesday directing the States to ensure that tests are conducted free of costs even in the private labs - payments issue to be sorted out later - more cases are likely to be reported in the coming days.
Experts said the number may cross 10,000-mark in the next week. This is likely to overwhelm the existing health resources which are already overburdened. The Government has come out with a three-tier category of hospitals for patients with diverse levels of infection.
These are early days yet and the State-wise distribution could change rapidly in the coming days. Across the country, there seems to be a strong link between the extent of testing done by States and the number of cases that have been identified.
Agarwal said in the backdrop of the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the country, the response and preparedness of the Government is intensifying.
Agarwal said to break the chain of transmission, action plans have been made for each district in the country as he cited door-to-door surveys conducted in Pune to identify people having symptoms and people with hypertension and diabetes were also included in the survey.
Several districts have taken measures which have emerged as best practices. For instance, he said, Pune district sealed the central region of Pune and Kondhwa area effectively and carried out door-to-door survey of homes located across 35 square kilometer area. The team is also checking persons with co-morbidity like diabetes and hypertension apart from travel history and contact tracing.
Similarly, Pathanamthitta district ensured surveillance, gathering travel history, contact tracing, ensuring quarantine facilities and providing essential & psychological support.
