The death toll due to the novel coronavirus rose to 1,583 with 194 fatalities reported since Monday evening, while the number of cases saw a big jump of 3,875 to go up to 46,711 cases on Tuesday, according to the Union health ministry.
The ministry also released a data for cases and deaths from Monday 8 am to Tuesday 8 am. It said in this 24 hours period, India registered a record single day increase of 195 deaths and 3,900 cases, taking the total number of Covid-19 fatalities to 1,568 and cases to 46,433.
The number of active Covid-19 cases stood at 31,967 while 13,160 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, according to the ministry's updated data on Tuesday evening.
'Thus, around 28.17 per cent patients have recovered so far,' joint secretary at the health ministry Lav Agarwal said during a press briefing on the Covid-19 situation in the country. He also said that the sudden spike in the number of cases was due to delay by states in reporting numbers.
“We persuaded certain states as we were not receiving reports of cases/deaths on time from them, after which the cases have been reported and we have seen spike in death cases today,” he briefed the media.
The total number of cases include 111 foreign nationals.
A total 194 deaths were reported since Monday evening, of which 98 fatalities were reported from West Bengal, 35 from Maharashtra, 29 from Gujarat, 11 from Madhya Pradesh, eight from Uttar Pradesh, six from Rajasthan, two each from Punjab and Karnataka and one each from Chandigarh, Haryana and Tamil Nadu.
Of the 1,583 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 583 fatalities, Gujarat comes second with 319 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 176, West Bengal at 133, Rajasthan at 77, Delhi at 64, Uttar Pradesh at 53 and Andhra Pradesh at 36.
The death toll reached 31 in Tamil Nadu, 29 in Telangana, while Karnataka has reported 28 fatalities due to the respiratory disease.
Punjab has registered 23 Covid-19 deaths, Jammu and Kashmir eight, Haryana six and Kerala and Bihar have reported four deaths each. Jharkhand has recorded three Covid-19 fatalities.
Meghalaya, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Assam and Uttarakhand have reported one fatality each, the data stated.
According to the health ministry data updated in the evening, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 14, 541 followed by Gujarat at 5,804, Delhi at 4,898, Tamil Nadu at 3,550, Rajasthan at 3,061, Madhya Pradesh at 3,049 and Uttar Pradesh at 2,859.
- Andaman & Nicobar 33
- Andhra Pradesh 1717
- Arunachal Pradesh 1
- Assam 42
- Bihar 539
- Chandigarh 115
- Chhattisgarh 58
- Delhi 4898
- Goa 7
- Gujarat 5804
- Haryana 544
- Himachal Pradesh 42
- Jammu & Kashmir 726
- Jharkhand 115
- Karnataka 673
- Kerala 502
- Ladakh 41
- Madhya Pradesh 2942
- Maharashtra 14541
- Manipur 2
- Meghalaya 12
- Mizoram 1
- Odisha 173
- Puducherry 10
- Punjab 1451
- Rajasthan 3127
- Tamil Nadu 3550
- Telangana 1085
- Tripura 29
- Uttarakhand 61
- Uttar Pradesh 2859
- West Bengal 1344
'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.
New hotspot in Tamil Nadu
Koyambedu market for vegetables, fruits and flowers, one of the largest in the country that used to teem with thousands of people every day here, has emerged as the latest hotspot for Covid-19 cases in Tamil Nadu.
The development has prompted authorities to shift the market -spread over 295 acres with over 3,000 outlets of which only about 200 of them are presently functional- to suburban Thirumazhisai from Thursday.
Of the 527 positive cases on Monday, a 'large number are linked to the Koyambedu market,' a bulletin said while rough estimates provided by officials here and in districts pegged at least 450 cases to have a link to the market place.
In Chennai alone, at least 215 of the 266 new cases were linked to the Koyambedu market.
Districts, including Cuddalore, which witnessed return of workers to their native villages from the market place, have seen a similar surge.
Part of Shastri Bhavan sealed
A floor of the Shastri Bhavan, a government building that houses several ministries, was on Tuesday partially sealed after a law ministry official tested positive for coronavirus.
This is the second incident in the Lutyens' zone of the sealing of the government office. The Niti Aayog building was sealed last month.
According to two senior government officials, an officer of the law ministry, housed in the fourth floor of the Shastri Bhavan, has tested positive for Covid-19.
As per the protocol, the contact tracing has been initiated, they said.
The fourth floor 'A' wing from gate number 1 to gate number 3 has been sealed and is being disinfected. Certain gates and lifts will also remain closed till Wednesday, the officials said.
Before Niti Aayog, Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, which houses the civil aviation ministry, was also sealed for sanitisation after a Covid-19 positive case was detected.
A worker cleans a foot bridge construction site at a train station in Mumbai, Monday, May 4, 2020. AP
No community transmission of virus: Harsh Vardhan
India has so far been able to stave off community transmission of Covid-19, said Union health minister Harsh Vardhan, expressing the hope that behavioural changes' brought about by the infection could become the new normal for a healthy society after the pandemic abates.
The nation in a post-coronavirus future could well look back on the pandemic period as a blessing in disguise if Indians imbibe hand, respiratory and environmental hygiene and practise it in their everyday lives, the minister said.
Underlining the importance of the lockdown, which has been extended till May 17, the minister said health should be on the radar just as much as the economy.
The government has to do a balancing act, he said.
'Once the havoc caused by the virus subsides and the crisis blows over, people may remember it as a blessing in disguise,' Vardhan said.
He added that India has so far been able to keep itself from slipping into the stage of community transmission of the novel coronavirus .
'By now we know that fighting coronavirus is no rocket science. If behavioural changes such as hand, environmental and respiratory hygiene, which are being practiced more rigorously during this period, get imbibed in society it will become the new normal,' Vardhan said.
Amethi declared orange zone
Uttar Pradesh's Amethi was declared an orange zone after the district reported its first coronavirus case on Tuesday, an official said.
Till now, Amethi was a green zone as no virus case had surfaced in the district prior to the detection of the woman who came here along with 27 other people recently.
District magistrate Arun Kumar said she has been admitted to a hospital at Kurwar in Musafirkhana tehsil of Amethi.
The district has been declared an orange zone as a precautionary measure, officials said.
The DM said the woman had arrived in the district on May 1 with 27 other people, who have also been quarantined at AH Inter College in Musafirkhana.
The authorities have taken their samples.
Volunteers of Athrout, a voluntary organization pack Covid-19 protective kit before distributing it to medical workers in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, Monday, May 4, 2020. AP
