Covid-19: Less than 2 lakh new cases reported for the first time in 40 days

Image Courtesy:timesofindia.indiatimes.com

For the first time in 40 days, India recorded less than 2 Lakh new Covid-19 cases, according to official data shared by the Centre yesterday. In a 24 period, 1.96 lakh new cases were reported, with the current Daily Positivity Rate at 9.54% and 3,26,850 recoveries registered in the last 24 hours. The news offers a drop of hope when compared to the massive reportage of 1,84,372 daily new cases on April 14, 2021. According to news reports the total infections in the country are over 2.69 crore now, with over 25 lakh are active cases. Around 3,511 deaths have also been reported in a 24 hour period.

However, states are still on alert. For example, Maharashtra, which is officially reporting a lesser number of deaths, has announced that Covid patients living in 18 districts which have high positivity rates, will no longer be allowed to remain in home isolation. On Tuesday, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope announced, “We have decided to stop home isolation for Covid patients in 18 districts where the positivity rate is high. The patients from these districts will have to go to a quarantine centre and won’t be allowed to stay in home isolation.” These district are: Satara, Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Osmanabad, Beed, Raigad, Pune, Hingoli, Akola, Amravati, Kolhapur, Thane, Sangli, Gadchiroli, Wardha, Nashik, Ahmednagar and Latur, which are all reporting a higher than 10 per cent positivity rate. According to the state government order, all new patients testing positive for virus in these areas shall be admitted to Covid care centres. However, in Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will continue to allow home isolation.

The state government has also focussed on the rise in cases of mucormycosis and has “issued a global tender to make available amphotericin B injections required for the treatment of this disease” shared the minister.

राज्यात म्युकरमायकोसीसच्या रुग्णांची संख्या वाढत असून या आजारावरील उपचारासाठी आवश्यक असलेले ॲम्फोटेरेसीन बी इंजेक्शन उपलब्ध होण्यासाठी राज्य शासनाने जागतिक निविदा काढली
— Rajesh Tope (@rajeshtope11) May 25, 2021

According to a report in The Mint, Rajesh Tope said the Maharashtra state government has classified Mucormycosis or black fungus as a notified disease. Tope told mediapersons, “There are 2,245 cases of black fungus in the state” adding that under Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana, patients afflicted with mucormycosis “will receive free treatment at state-run hospitals.” The Maharashtra government has also announced that it will get 60,000 vials of Amphotericin-B, the key drug for the treatment of mucormycosis patients, from June 1. Mucormycosis, has already been declared an epidemic under the Epidemic Diseases Act (1897), in many states across the country.