Coronavirus India updates, July 5: Recovery rate in 21 states, UTs higher than national average of 60.77%, says Health Ministry - 613 people succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours, the highest so far. The death toll now stands at 19,268.

IE, New Delhi, 04 July: Twenty-one states and UTs, including Delhi, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, have a Covid-19 recovery rate higher than the national average of 60.77 per cent, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Sunday as India’s tally mounted to 6.73 lakh and the number of fatalities rose to 19,268. Collective and focused efforts for containment and management of coronavirus by the government of India and its states and union territories have led to the number of recovered Covid patients to rise to 4,09,082 so far, it said.

India reported 24,850 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the last 24 hours. Of the 613 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, 295 are from Maharashtra, 81 from Delhi, 65 from Tamil Nadu, 42 from Karnataka, 24 from Uttar Pradesh, 21 from Gujarat, 19 from West Bengal, 12 from Andhra Pradesh, nine from Bihar, eight from Jammu and Kashmir, seven from Rajasthan, five each in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, and Telangana, two each from Goa and Jharkhand and one from Himachal Pradesh.

Intense lockdown in Tamil Nadu on Sunday

A strict lockdown, without any relaxations, was imposed across Tamil Nadu on Sunday as part of the state’s measures to curb the spread of coronavirus. The state government had earlier announced that on all the four Sundays in July, intense lockdown will be in force across Tamil Nadu and only health care services, including pharmacies and hospitals, will be functional.

People remained indoors and no commercial activities were witnessed, reports said. Shops, including vegetables and groceries

stores were closed in many parts and there was no vehicular movement on key roads in different parts of the state. Police personnel were posted in various junctions as part of total implementation of the lockdown.

Delhi LG inaugurates world’s ‘largest’ COVID care centre

Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal inaugurated the 10,000-bed Sardar Patel COVID care centre, the “largest” of its kind in the world, at the Radha Soami Satsang Beas here on Sunday. The centre has been set up in Chhatarpur for treating mild and asymptomatic coronavirus patients.

It will also serve as a treatment centre for those who are asymptomatic but cannot afford home isolation. The centre is 1,700 feet long, 700 feet wide — roughly the size of 20 football fields — and has 200 enclosures with 50 beds each. Authorities say it is the largest of its kind in the world.

While the Delhi government has provided administrative support, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) will be the nodal agency operating the centre. Volunteers from the religious sect of Radha Soami Beas will also help run the centre.

Goa councillor dies of coronavirus infection

A 72-year-old councillor of the Mormugao Municipal Council in Goa died due to COVID-19 in the wee hours on Sunday, a state health department official said. Pascoal DSouza, who did not belong to any political party, tested positive for coronavirus last month following which he was admitted to Margao-based ESI Hospital, a specially designated facility for COVID-19 patients. 

He succumbed to the viral infection on Sunday, the official said. D’Souza represented a ward in Mangor Hill area, which has been declared as a containment zone after more than 200 people there tested positive for coronavirus. With the councillor’s death, the overall toll in the coastal state has reached seven.

4 Assam Rifles personnel, 10 NDRF staffers among 22 new COVID-19 cases in Mizoram.