Cases rise to 78,003, death toll now 2,549

The death toll due to Covid-19 rose to 2,549 and the number of cases climbed to 78,003 on Thursday, registering an increase of 134 deaths and 3,722 cases in the last 24 hours since Wednesday 8 am, according to the Union Health Ministry.

The number of active Covid-19 cases stood at 49,219 while 26,234 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said.

'Thus, around 33.63 per cent patients have recovered so far,' a senior health ministry official said.

The total confirmed cases include foreign nationals too.

A total 134 deaths deaths were reported since Wednesday morning, of which 54 were in Maharashtra, 29 in Gujarat, 20 in Delhi, 9 in West Bengal, seven in Madhya Pradesh, four in Rajasthan, three in Tamil Nadu, two each in Telangana and Karnataka and one each in Andhra Pradesh,Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh.

Of the 2,549 fatalities, Maharashtra tops tally with 975 fatalities, Gujarat comes second with 566 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 232, West Bengal at 207, Rajasthan at 121, Delhi at 106, Uttar Pradesh at 83,Tamil Nadu at 64 and Andhra Pradesh at 47.

The death toll reached 34 Telangana, 33 in Karnataka and 32 in Punjab. Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir have reported 11 fatalities each due to the respiratory disease while Bihar has registered seven and Kerala has reported four deaths.

Jharkhand, Chandigarh and Odisha have recorded three Covid-19 fatalities each while Himachal Pradesh and Assam have reported two deaths each. Meghalaya, Uttarakhand and Puducherry have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry data.

According to the ministry's website, more than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities.

According to the health ministry data updated in the morning, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country is from Maharashtra at 25,922 followed by Gujarat at 9,267.

• Tamil Nadu: 9,227
  
• Delhi: 7,998
• Rajasthan: 4,328
• Madhya Pradesh: 4,173
• Uttar Pradesh: 3,729
• West Bengal: 2,290
  
• Andhra Pradesh: 2,137
• Punjab: 1,924
• Telangana: 1,367
• Jammu and Kashmir: 971
• Karnataka: 959
• Bihar: 940
  
• Haryana: 793
• Kerala: 534
• Odisha: 538
• Jharkhand: 173
• Chandigarh: 187
• Tripura: 155
  
• Assam: 80
  
• Uttarakhand: 72
• Himachal Pradesh: 66
  
• Chhattisgarh: 59
• Ladakh: 43
• Andaman and Nicobar Islands: 33
• Meghalaya: 13
• Puducherry: 13
• Goa: 7
• Manipur: 2
• Mizoram: 1
• Arunachal Pradesh: 1
• Dadar and Nagar Haveli: 1

'Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR,' the ministry said on its website.

State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said.

Railways recording passengers' address for contact tracing

The railways has started keeping records of destination address of all passengers booking their tickets on the IRCTC website to help facilitate contact tracing in case Covid-19 infections are detected among them later, officials said Thursday.

The provision to include the destination address has been made on the IRCTC website from May 13.

'With effect from May 13, IRCTC taking destination address of all passengers booking tickets. This will help in contact tracing, if required later,' Railway spokesperson RD Bajpai said, adding it would now be a permanent feature for the near future.

He also said that keeping in view the coronavirus crisis, it will be mandatory for passengers to fill up their address details for any bookings.

Earlier, in at least 12 cases, passengers travelling in trains were later found to be Covid-19 positive.

Provide non-Covid health services, says Adityanath

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has asked the doctors of private hospitals and nursing homes in the state to provide non-Covid health services in coordination with the administrations of their respective districts, officials said on Thursday.

The chief minister directed the health department to give immediate permission to private hospitals and nursing homes that are following the coronavirus protocol to start operations and all medical activities.

In a video conference with members of the Indian Medical Association on Wednesday night, he stressed that before starting the emergency and other services all medical institutions should provide training to their staff on how to safeguard themselves from the novel virus.

There should also be availability of PPT kits, N95 masks, sanitizers and other such essential equipment in private hospitals, Adityanath said.

Jammu: Passengers from Delhi arrive at Jammu Tawi railway station following the resumption of passenger train services by Indian Railways connecting major cities, during the ongoing nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, in Jammu, Thursday, May 14, 2020. PTI

Calcutta HC to hear only urgent matterss till May 31

The Calcutta High Court, its circuit benches and subordinate courts will continue to take up only urgent matters till May 31 in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.

The high court and the subordinate courts will hear 'extremely urgent matters' through video conferencing as is being done since the lockdown commenced, registrar-general Rai Chattopadhyay said.

Regular functioning of the courts, including that of the circuit benches at Andaman and Nicobar Islands and at Jalpaiguri, will continue to remain suspended till May 31, Chattopadhyay said in a notification.

Chief Justice T.B.N. Radhakrishnan passed the direction upon consideration of recommendations of a committee set up by him for all Covid-19 related matters, the notification said.

All India Radio HQ sanitized

Akashvani Bhavan, the headquarters of the All India Radio in New Delhi, was sanitized on Thursday as a precautionary measure after an employee who last attended office on April 27 tested positive for Covid-19, sources said.

The employee felt uneasy on May 11 and reported to the hospital the next day, a senior AIR official said, adding that he was confirmed coronavirus positive on May 13, a senior AIR official said on condition of anonymity.

Most likely, the person contracted the infection outside and developed symptoms, the official said.

The entire building has been sanitised as a precaution and a confidence building measure, the official said, adding that work is continuing normally.

Bengal govt has arranged 105 more trains to ferry stranded migrants back home: Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said her government has made arrangements for 105 more trains to bring back people stuck in different parts of the country, amid claims by opposition that the state is not taking adequate measures to ferry them home.

Earlier, the government had given nod for 10 trains to facilitate the return of labourers, patients, tourists and students stranded in other states owing to the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

Three of the 10 trains have reached the state so far.

'Towards our commitment to helping all our people stuck in different parts of the country and who want to return back to Bengal, I am pleased to announce that we have arranged 105 additional special trains. Over the coming days, these special trains will embark from different states for various destinations across Bengal bringing our people back home,' Banerjee tweeted on Thursday.

She also shared the list of 105 trains which would leave from Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka and Rajasthan among other states over the next few weeks.

The list suggested that three trains -- set to commence their journey from New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore Urban on May 16 -- were scheduled to reach New Coochbehar, Howrah and Malda Town respectively the following day.

The state government's initiative to ferry stranded migrants in trains would continue till June 14.

The home department, in a tweet later on Thursday, said the 'government has prepared a comprehensive plan for movement of more than 100 trains to bring back our stranded people from different states. Fine tuning being worked out in consultation with the respective state governments'.

According to a senior official of the TMC government, the expenses would be shared between the railways and the state, in accordance with the protocol.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had recently said that the West Bengal government was not allowing trains carrying migrant labourers to reach the state.

In a letter to the chief minister, Shah had said 'injustice' was being done to the workers stuck in other states.

State BJP chief Dilip Ghosh had also said on more than one occasion that the TMC government was not doing enough to ferry them home.

The doubling time of coronavirus infection cases has slowed down to 13.9 days in the last three days, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Thursday, as the Covid-19 death toll rose to 2,549 and the number of cases to 78,003.

The minister, who visited the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) here and dedicated the COBAS 6800 testing machine to the nation, said 14 states and Union Territories have not reported any case of Covid-19 in last 24 hours.

These states and UTs are Gujarat, Telangana, Jharkhand, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Goa, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Puducherry.

Also, Daman and Diu, Sikkim, Nagaland and Lakshadweep have not reported any case so far.

'It is heartening that the last three days' (Covid-19) doubling time has slowed down to 13.9 days, while the doubling time in the past 14 days was 11.1,' Vardhan was quoted as saying in a health ministry statement.

About ramping up testing capability, the minister said, 'We have now developed a capacity to conduct 1,00,000 tests per day. Today marks an important milestone as we have carried out nearly 20 lakh Covid-19 tests at more than 500 laboratories -- 359 government and 145 private -- in the country.'

The COBAS 6800, he said, is the first fully automated, high-end machine for real-time Covid-19 PCR testing procured by the government, and is installed at the NCDC.

'The COBAS 6800 will provide quality, high-volume testing with a high throughput of test around 1200 samples in 24 hours. It will largely increase the testing capacity with reduction in pendency,' Vardhan said.

Highlighting its other features, the Union Health Minister said COBAS 6800 is robotics-enabled minimising the chance of contamination as well as the risk of infection among healthcare workers since it can be operated remotely with limited human intervention.

As the machine requires a minimum BSL2+ containment level for testing, it cannot be placed at just any facility. COBAS 6800 can also detect other pathogens such as viral Hepatitis B and C and HIV, according to an official statement.

Vardhan also visited the control room and testing laboratories, and reviewed the current status of Covid-19 testing with NCDC Director Dr S K Sing and other senior officials, it said.

'I salute the pathologists, lab technicians, scientists and other staff who are our 'Corona Warriors' and working under tremendous risky conditions day and night to save their fellow countrymen,' he said and stressed the people need to shun stigmatising frontline healthcare providers and applaud their contribution.

Vardhan also emphasised on the quality and sturdiness of community surveillance and contact tracing in fighting the coronavirus outbreak.

'It is the need of the hour that all people who are either at home or facility quarantine, need to maintain a strict vigil, and practise the protocols of social distancing, and personal hygiene. Special care needs to be taken of the elderly, pregnant women and children,' he said.

As many as 134 Covid-19 deaths and 3,722 fresh instances the respiratory infection were reported in 24 hours till Thursday 8 am, according to the Union Health Ministry.

With 26,235 people having cured of the disease so far, Vardhan said the recovery rate has further improved to 33.6 per cent from 32.83% on Wednesday on while the fatality rate was 3.2 per cent.

He also added that as of Wednesday there were 3 per cent active Covid-19 patients in ICU, 0.39 per cent on ventilators and 2.7 per cent on oxygen support.

A man receives change from a shop, handed over in a basket in observance of social distancing norms, during lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus in Kohima, Nagaland, Wednesday, May 13, 2020. AP

167 passengers go missing from train bringing migrants to Haridwar

As many as 167 passengers of a special train bringing migrants to Haridwar from Gujarat's Surat have gone missing, causing concern among officials here.

The number of passengers who deboarded the train here does not match with the list of passengers received from Surat, Haridwar District Magistrate C Ravishankar said on Thursday.

'The discrepancy is being looked into. If these passengers have gone missing after boarding the train in Surat then it is a serious matter. Investigation is underway and action will be taken when it is complete,' he said.

As per the list received from the Surat administration, 1,340 people were travelling by a special train that left Surat on May 12 but when it reached Haridwar station, only 1,173 passengers got down from the train.

The matter is being probed in consultation with authorities in Surat whether the missing 167 passengers did not board the train or got down after boarding it, the Haridwar DM said.

Special trains have been running since May 11 from different parts of the country to bring back stranded migrants to Uttarakhand.

Passengers at the Howrah Station on their arrival from New Delhi by a special train, amid ongoing Covid-19 lockdown in Kolkata, Thursday, May 14, 2020. PTI