New Delhi: The number of COVID-19 cases in India has climbed to 1,65,799, making it the world’s ninth worst-hit country by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Union health ministry said the death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 4,706 in the country, while the number of cases climbed to 1,65,799, registering an increase of 175 deaths and a record jump of 7,466 cases since Thursday 8 am.
According to Worldometer, India has now overtaken Turkey as the ninth worst-hit country in terms of total number of cases.
The health ministry said the number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 89,987, while 71,105 people have recovered and one patient has migrated.
“Thus, around 42.89% patients have recovered so far,” a senior health ministry official said. 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.
State-wise deaths and cases
Of the 175 deaths reported since Thursday morning, 85 were in Maharashtra, 22 in Gujarat, 15 in Uttar Pradesh, 13 in Delhi, 12 in Tamil Nadu, eight in Madhya Pradesh, seven in Rajasthan, six in West Bengal, four in Telangana and one each in Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana.
Of the total 4,706 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 1,982 deaths followed by Gujarat with 960 deaths, Madhya Pradesh with 321, Delhi with 316, West Bengal with 295, Uttar Pradesh with 197, Rajasthan with 180, Tamil Nadu with 145, Telangana with 67 and Andhra Pradesh with 59 deaths.
The death toll reached 47 in Karnataka and 40 in Punjab. Jammu and Kashmir has reported 27 fatalities due to the disease, Haryana has 19 deaths, Bihar has 15 while Odisha and Kerala have reported seven deaths each.
Himachal Pradesh has registered five COVID-19 fatalities, while Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh and Assam have recorded four deaths each so far.
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Meghalaya has reported one COVID-19 fatality so far, according to the ministry data.
According to the ministry’s website, more than 70% of the deaths are “due to co-morbidities”.
According to the health ministry data updated in the morning, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 59,546 followed by Tamil Nadu at 19,372, Delhi at 16,281, Gujarat at 15,562, Rajasthan at 8,067, Madhya Pradesh at 7,453 and Uttar Pradesh at 7,170.
The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 4,536 in West Bengal, 3,296 in Bihar and 3,251 in Andhra Pradesh.
It has risen to 2,533 in Karnataka, 2,256 in Telangana, 2,158 in Punjab, 2,036 in Jammu and Kashmir and 1,660 in Odisha.
Haryana has reported 1,504 coronavirus infection cases so far, while Kerala has 1,088 cases. A total of 856 people have been infected with the virus in Assam and 469 in Jharkhand.
Uttarakhand has registered 500 cases, Chhattisgarh has 399, Chandigarh has reported 288 cases, Himachal Pradesh has 276, Tripura has 242, Ladakh has 73 and Goa has 69 cases so far.
Manipur has reported 55 COVID-19 cases, Puducherry has 51 instances of infection while Andaman and Nicobar Islands has registered 33 infections.Meghalaya has registered 21 cases. Nagaland has reported 18 infections, Arunachal Pradesh reported three cases, Dadar and Nagar Haveli has two cases, while Mizoram and Sikkim have reported a case each till how.
“4,673 cases are being reassigned to states,” the ministry said on its website, adding, “Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR.” State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said.
Germany pauses anti-malaria drug study for COVID-19: Spiegel
A university in Germany has suspended a clinical study using the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19, Spiegel Online reported on Thursday, after the World Health Organisation decided this week to pause a large trial over safety concerns.
“We will now probably interrupt the study for two weeks,” Peter Kremsner, Medical Director at the Tuebingen University Hospital told Spiegel, which reported the decision was made late on Thursday.
Then an assessment will be made on whether to continue the study, reported Spiegel.
Hydroxychloroquine has been touted by U.S. President Donald Trump and others as a possible treatment for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Trump has said he was taking the drug to help prevent infection.
However, several European governments moved on Wednesday to halt the use of the anti-malaria drug to treat COVID-19 patients, and a second global trial was suspended.
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Kremsner told Spiegel he had no indications of side effects that might be associated with hydroxychloroquine, saying he believed it may in some cases have been used in patients where the risk of side effects was particularly high.
“I am confident that we can continue the trial,” Spiegel quoted him as saying.
French coronavirus cases jump by 3,325 due to better tracking
The number of coronavirus infections in France jumped on the same day the government announced an easing of lockdown rules, but the increase reflected the inclusion of new data rather than a rise in daily infections, the Health Ministry said.
The inclusion of data from a new tracking system boosted the number of confirmed coronavirus cases by 3,325 to 149,071, the biggest increase since a 4,183 increase on May 6, when data from a new laboratory were included.
“The increase compared to yesterday is due to more efficient tracking, not to the epidemiological situation in France,” the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
It said that from now on France would use a new monitoring system that will allow for more complete tracking.
China reports no new coronavirus cases for May 28
China reported no new confirmed coronavirus cases in the mainland as of the end of May 28, down from two a day earlier, the country’s health authority said on Friday.
The National Health Commission also confirmed five new asymptomatic coronavirus cases on May 28, down from 23 a day earlier.
Hydroxychloroquine combination risky for cancer patients with COVID-19: study
Cancer patients with COVID-19 who were treated with a drug combination promoted by US President Donald Trump to counter the coronavirus were three times more likely to die within 30 days than those who got either drug alone, US researchers reported on Thursday.
The preliminary results suggest doctors may want to refrain from prescribing the decades-old malaria treatment hydroxychloroquine with the antibiotic azithromycin for these patients until more study is done, researchers said.
“Treatment with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin were strongly associated with increased risk of death,” Dr. Howard Burris, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology(ASCO), said in a briefing with reporters on the results.
The drug combination initially was thought to help COVID-19 patients, but recent data has cast doubt on the regimen.
The preliminary findings, to be presented this week at ASCO’s virtual scientific meeting, show that the combination may pose a significant risk to cancer patients.
“Taking the combination gives a three times increased risk of dying within 30 days of any cause,” Dr Jeremy Warner of Vanderbilt University Medical System told reporters.
(With agency inputs)