The Director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) – Randeep Guleria today, i.e., Thursday, May 7, 2020 said that India is yet to witness a huge surge in Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the months of June and July 2020.
He also said that the downfall in the COVID-19 cases will only happen once the peak period, which usually lasts 2-3 months, is over. Taking this into account, he urged the Government to increase the number of quarantine and testing centres so that India is well prepared when the cases increase in June and July.
Speaking on the occasion, he said, “Going as per the trend, the peak [of coronavirus outbreak in India] is expected to be in June.”
Talking about lockdown in containing the spread, he added, “Lockdown has had a huge impact. The number of cases in India is much less in comparison to other countries who were where we were when we started out.”
He also advised to ensure strict measures are in place in red zones. Every person has to fight against COVID-19. Everyone needs to follow social distancing norm, sanitise hands and avoid going out. People must inculcate the habit of always wearing a mask, while going out for anything.
The Minister of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) – Dr. Harsh Vardhan has said that there has been a huge increase in the number of tests carried out per day and the laboratories. As of now, 95,000 tests are conducted every day and there are 327 Government laboratories and 118 private laboratories.
Meanwhile, India reported 3,561 fresh cases and 107 casualties in the last 24 hours. The total number of cases in India now stand at 52,952 and there have been 1,783 casualties.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan also pointed out that as compared to other countries, India’s fatality rate is 3.3% and recovery rate is 28.3%. There are 35,902 active cases in the country. Of these, 4.8% are in ICU, 1.1% are on ventilator and 3.3% are on oxygen support. He also stated that 180 Districts have not reported a case in the past 7 days.
Talking about India’s preparedness, he said that there are 821 dedicated COVID-19 hospitals with 1,50,059 beds (Isolation beds – 1, 32,219 and ICU beds – 17,840) and 1,898 dedicated COVID-19 Health Centres with 1,19,109 beds (Isolation beds – 1, 09,286 and ICU beds – 9,823) along with 7,569 quarantine centres.
In other developments, Maharashtra remained the worst hit State with 1,362 new cases, taking the total number of cases in the state to 18,120. Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum in Mumbai, reported 50 new cases today. Uttar Pradesh reported 73 fresh case. Tamil Nadu reported 508 fresh cases of the outbreak, taking the total number of cases to 5,409. While West Bengal reported 92 new cases, taking the total tally to 1,548, the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir reported 18 new cases, taking the total number of cases to 793.
Besides, 3,500 migrant workers have arrived in Uttar Pradesh from different parts of the country by special Shramik trains today. As many as 1,220 migrants arrived in Banda District from Surat in Gujarat while close to 1,110 arrived in Lucknow from Bengaluru and 1,079 returned to Barabanki from Hyderabad.
7 non-scheduled special flights will operate from Saturday, i.e., May 9, 2020 to bring back the Indians stranded in the United States (U.S.), owing to lockdown and suspension of all international flights. A computerised draw of lots would identify the names of the Indian nationals for the special 7 flights back home, due to the limited number of seats available.
