India Coronavirus Updates, April 29: Highest single-day spike in deaths...1813 new cases & 71 deaths reported in last 24 hours

The Indian Express | New Delhi | April 29, 2020: Punjab has extended the curfew in the state by two more weeks but with a relaxation of four hours everyday, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said Wednesday. Addressing the people of the state, Amarinder Singh said residents would be allowed to step out of their homes from 7 am to 11 am everyday. All shops would be allowed to be open and industries would function, he said.

In the last 24 hours, the country has recorded 73 deaths, the sharpest single-day increase so far, taking the toll to 1,007. The number of coronavirus cases climbed to 31,332 in the country on Wednesday, according to the Union health ministry. The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 22,629, while 7,695 people have recovered, and one patient has migrated. The recovery rate is now at 23.3 per cent.

The Centre on Wednesday also made it mandatory for all its employees to download the Aarogya Setu app on their mobile phones, saying the application will be helpful in breaking the chain of transmission of COVID-19. Those working in the Central government, including officers and outsourced staff, will have to review their status on the app before they start for office. They can come report to work only when if it reflects “safe” or “low risk” status.

Maharashtra is the worst-affected state with at least 400 deaths and over 9,318 cases including 1,388 recoveries so far, followed by Gujarat with 3774 cases and 226 deaths. Delhi recorded 206 new cases on Wednesday, taking the tally to 3314 positive cases and 54 deaths. So far, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Manipur and Tripura have been declared Covid free.  Mizoram (1), Puduchery (8) and Meghalaya (12) have the least number of cases.

Maharashtra and Gujarat account for 60% of all Covid-19 deaths in India

Maharashtra and Gujarat together reported over 50 Coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday, as the total number of dead in the country reached close to 1000. The two states alone account for almost 60 per cent all deaths in the country.

Ahmedabad once again reported 19 deaths on a single day, taking the city’s death count to 129. Two days earlier too, it had reported 19 deaths. Twenty-five of the 31 deaths in Maharashtra came from Mumbai. Some of them had died a few days earlier but their tests were confirmed only on Tuesday. Together Maharashtra and Gujarat now have seen the death of at least 583 people.

Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 cases in Madhya Pradesh’s worst-hit Indore saw a sharp increase on Wednesday as they mounted to 1,466, with 94 new cases being reported in the last 24-hours. This comes despite the curfew being in place in urban areas of the district for more than a month now.

Kerala worried as new cases pop up in green zones, prepares for return of expats

A string of new infections in double digits in districts that had been declared Covid-19-free has heightened worries among health officials in Kerala at a time when the state has been leading from the front in combating the pandemic.

Between April 12 and April 20, the state recorded only 34 new cases of coronavirus in a sign that the curve of new infections was beginning to stabilise. In those days, the number of patients who recovered from the infection each day remained consistently higher than new cases. But between April 21 and April 27, the state saw 74 new cases added to its tally, taking by surprise doctors and health officials in war-rooms who had been keeping a watch on the situation.

In fact, Kottayam district in central Kerala, which had the last of its coronavirus patients getting discharged in the first week of April, accounted for 17 of those new cases. The neighbouring hilly district of Idukki, which was also Covid-free by the second week of April, reported 14 cases. Both districts, plotted under ‘green zone’ had been enjoying the fruits of lockdown relaxations when they were swept by new cases of infection.

UP: First 1,000 cases in 45 days, next 1,000 in only 9 days

The number of positive coronavirus cases in UP crossed 2,000 on Tuesday and reached 2,053, with 67 cases added in the past 24 hours. While it took 45 days for the state to report first 1,000 cases, the next 1,000 cases to reach 2,000 took just nine days. The state has so far recorded 34 coronavirus- related deaths and at least 463 patients have been discharged from hospitals after recovery, including 64 since Monday.

According to the state health department, the total cases are spread across 60 districts in the state and seven districts among them do not have any active case now. The state now has 1,557 active cases.

“A total of 4,384 samples were tested on Monday and an additional 2,900 samples have been sent to laboratories across the state for testing. The Chief Minister [Yogi Adityanath] has directed that the number of isolation beds at Level-1 hospitals is to be increased and in that regard we have making some temporary hospitals and have finalised the places for that. By Tuesday evening, we will notify these places and hopefully by Wednesday, we will add 8,000 more beds for isolation facilities. Even though the active cases in the state are at 1,557, we already have 10,000 beds and these 8,000 will be in addition,” said Principal Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad.

Two flights, 17 destinations

Bengaluru airport facilitates transit for 3,000 foreign nationals amid lockdown

As thousands of international passengers remain stranded across the world due to the lockdown, Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport claims to have facilitated the transit of nearly 3,000 foreign nationals to 17 destinations across the globe.

Hotspot districts shrunk to 129 from the 177

Nearly after three weeks of implementing the curbs, the number of hotspot districts (red zones) has shrunk to 129 from the 177 — India has 736 districts — that were identified on April 15. The number of orange zone districts has risen from 207 on April 15 to 250 now, sources in the Health Ministry said. Twenty of the red-zone districts account for 60 per cent of the novel coronavirus case load in the country, data available with the Ministry show.

This data is crucial as the government explores modalities for relaxations after May 3. Over the past few weeks, the disease has spread to more districts, but it is in the major urban centres of Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Indore, and Ahmedabad that the clusters of larger and faster transmission have emerged.