New Delhi: For the third consecutive day on Sunday, India saw a record jump in its COVID-19 case count, with 6,767 fresh cases reported in the last 24 hours. It has been exactly 60 days since the nationwide lockdown was brought into effect on March 25.
India’s tally is now 1,31,868. Out of this number, according to the Union health ministry, 73,560 are active cases, 54,441 have been cured or have migrated and 3,867 patients have died.
“Thus, around 41.28% patients have recovered so far,” a health ministry official told PTI. Though official spokespersons have been highlighting the Indian recovery rate, they do not mention that the global recovery rate is also the same or slightly better. On May 24, 41.57% of all those infected with the novel coronavirus around the world had recovered.
Globally, number of cases stands at 5,311,089, according to the tracker established by the Johns Hopkins University. India is 11th among countries.
The total number of cases in India is now around 2,000 less than in Iran, once considered one of the world’s worst hotspots. At the current rate of increase, India is likely to overtake Iran in one more day, and then Turkey too, in another five days, if the current pace remains. However, the case fatality rate in India, at 2.9%, is half that of Iran’s.
Former AIIMS medicine head passes away
Dr Jitendra Nath Pande, an eminent pulmonologist and former head of the Department of Medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, who had tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week, died at his residence on Saturday.
He was 79.
Dr Pande and his wife tested positive for the infection on Tuesday with mild symptoms and they decided to remain in home isolation, said AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria.
But his wife was shifted to the AIIMS hospital on Saturday.
Passenger flights to resume from tomorrow
Meanwhile, India is set to resume its domestic civil aviation operations from May 25, after a two-month suspension. The Delhi airport will be handling around 380 flights on Monday, a senior official told PTI.
“There will be 190 departures and around 190 arrivals,” a senior government official said.
Three die on Shramik Special trains
Three persons onboard separate Shramik Special trains lost their lives due to various ailments on Saturday.
“Family members of the deceased said all were suffering from serious ailment. The travel history of all the three deceased passengers was taken, Kanpur District Magistrate Brahma Deo Ram Tiwari said.
Giving details about the deceased, he said Naichinalyu Disang (23), a resident of Nagaland, was going from Delhi to Dimapur.
Rajendra Prasad (50), a resident of Unnao, died on the Lucknow-bound special train from Andhra Pradesh.
Munni Devi (80), a resident of Siwan district in Bihar, died onboard the special train going from Surat to Siwan, the senior official informed.
(With PTI inputs)