Cases surge to 5.28 lakh; MP, UP announce house-to-house survey; Centre
says ‘encouraging’ results after proactive steps
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New Delhi(Agencies): With
a record spike of nearly 20,000 cases in a day, India’s COVID-19 tally mounted
to 5,28,859 on Sunday and the death toll rose to 16,095, while Madhya Pradesh
and Uttar Pradesh announced a door-to-door survey joining several states and
UTs which have opted for the exercise in their efforts to check the surge.
The Centre noted that recoveries
exceeded active COVID cases by over one lakh, stressing that “proactive steps”
taken by it along with the states and union territories are showing “encouraging results”.
The number of active cases
stands at 2,03,051, while 3,09,712 people have recovered and one patient has
migrated, according to the updated data.
“Thus, around 58.56 per cent patients have
recovered so far,” an official said.
“The graded, pre-emptive and proactive steps
taken by the Government of India along with the states and UTs for prevention,
containment and management of COVID-19 are showing encouraging results,” the
Union Health Ministry said in a statement.
India saw a surge of 3,38,324
infections from June 1 till date as the lockdown restrictions eased.
The country reported 19,906
cases on Sunday. This is the fifth consecutive day that coronavirus infections
have increased by more than 15,000.
As the country enters the
“unlock” phase, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, it will have to focus on
defeating coronavirus and bolstering the economy. India has always transformed
adversities into stepping stones to success and this year won’t be different,
he said.
He said people have to remain
more vigilant compared to the lockdown period.
“Always remember, if you do not wear a mask,
do not observe the two-yard social distancing norms or do not take other
precautions, you are putting others at risk besides yourselves, especially the
elderly and children at home,” he cautioned in his monthly “Mann ki Baat” radio
address.
Speaking in the same vein,
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said the restrictions will continue
even after June 30 as the crisis is not over.
“Even if I am not using the term lockdown, do
not misunderstand and lower your guard. In fact, we need to show more stringent
discipline,” he said.
“We can’t leave this war halfway in this final
phase. I am sure that you will continue to cooperate with the government to
ensure that lockdown is not re-imposed,” he said in a televised address.
The unlock process, dubbed
Mission Begin Again by the state government, is being gradually implemented to
put the economy back on track, Thackeray said.
Maharashtra has reported the
highest number of cases at 1,59,133 followed by Delhi at 80,188, Tamil Nadu at
78,335, Gujarat at 30,709, Uttar Pradesh at 21,549, Rajasthan at 16,944 and
West Bengal at 16,711, according to the ministry data.
Mumbai Police urged the city
residents not to move beyond 2-km radius of their homes for the purpose of
exercise or visiting shops and salons, in a bid to curb the spread of
coronavirus.
Movement beyond 2 km is
permitted only for attending office or medical emergencies, a senior police
official said, adding that movement outside this radius for shopping is
strictly prohibited.
With the further easing of
coronavirus-induced curbs in the state, some salons opened in Mumbai on Sunday
after a gap of three months while many remained closed due to lack of manpower.
Thackeray also said the ‘Chase
the Virus’ initiative that received good results in worst-hit Mumbai will now
be expanded to other parts of the state.
As part of the campaign, 15
close contacts of a COVID-19 patient will be compulsorily kept in institutional
quarantine.
It was launched on May 27.
In Delhi, where authorities
are implementing a revised strategy after a major surge in cases, the number of
COVID-19 containment zones has risen from 218 to 417 after a re-mapping of such
areas, while around 2.45 lakh people have been screened in a mammoth
house-to-house survey to check the spread of COVID-19.
Officials said the count of containment zones
is expected to jump further as the authorities in some districts were yet to
complete the task of redrawing such areas following the Centre’s directions.
“We have screened around two
lakh people for COVID-19 in house-to-house survey being conducted across the
city. Also, 45,000 people have been screened in COVID-19 containment zones,” an
official told PTI.
The process of screening every
household has to be completed by July 6.
According to the 2011 Census,
there were over 34.35 lakh households in the national capital, including 33.56
lakh in urban areas and 79,574 in rural areas.
Other states with more than
10,000 cases are Telangana (13,436), Haryana (13,427), Madhya Pradesh (12,965),
Andhra Pradesh (12,285) and Karnataka (11,9230).
Stepping up surveillance,
Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh will also conduct house-to-house survey like
Delhi, Goa, Odisha and Jharkhand.
Uttar Pradesh’s Additional
Chief Secretary (Medical and Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said the state will
launch a large-scale campaign from Meerut division in July, where
house-to-house survey will be undertaken similar to the pulse polio
immunisation.
“It will be carried out in
containment and non-containment zones,” he said.
The Madhya Pradesh government
said it will launch a ‘Kill Corona’ campaign from July 1 to control the spread
of COVID-19 in the state.
Under the campaign,
door-to-door survey will be conducted and tests would also be done on citizens
for other diseases as well, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said during a
virtual review meeting on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chouhan said during the 15-day campaign, 2.5
lakh tests will be carried out and 15,000 to 20,000 samples would be collected
daily, according to a press release.
In Karnataka, Bengaluru police
said criminal cases will be filed against those flouting face mask and social
distancing rules and public can call police in case someone refuses to follow
the COVID-19 preventive norms in the city. While police and civic body
officials will patrol city roads and enforce the mask rule and social
distancing, the public can also do their bit and ask every other person to
follow them, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao said in a series of
tweets as the government stepped up efforts to contain the spread of
coronavirus.
Bihar’s Backward and Extremely
Backward Classes Welfare Minister Vinod Kumar Singh and his wife tested
positive for COVID-19 on Sunday and were sent to an isolation ward at a city
hotel in Katihar district, officials said.
India now has 1,036 diagnostic
labs dedicated to COVID-19. This includes 749 in the government sector and 287
private labs.
“Daily more than 2,00,000 samples
are being tested. The samples tested in the last 24 hours have further
increased to 2,31,095. The total number of samples tested, as on date, is
82,27,802,” the Union Health Ministry statement stated.
As on June 28, the COVID
related health infrastructure has been strengthened with the availability of
1,055 dedicated COVID Hospitals with 1,77,529 isolation beds, 23,168 ICU beds
and 78,060 oxygen supported beds, it said.
Of the 410 new deaths reported
till Sunday morning, 167 were in Maharashtra, 68 in Tamil Nadu, 66 in Delhi, 19
in Uttar Pradesh, 18 in Gujarat, 13 in West Bengal, 11 each in Rajasthan and
Karnataka, nine in Andhra Pradesh, seven in Haryana, six each in Punjab and
Telangana, four in Madhya Pradesh, two in Jammu and Kashmir and one each
in Bihar, Odisha and Puducherry. PTI
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