NEW DELHI, May 5:
The biggest single day spike of 3,900 Novel Coronavirus cases and 195 fatalities has been reported in the last 24 hours till today morning, the Union Health Ministry said, asserting that the delay in reporting of COVID-19 cases by certain States has led to the sudden spurt in figures.
Addressing a press briefing, Joint Secretary at the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said timely reporting of cases and their management is very crucial while dealing with an infectious disease.
The Ministry 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.
“Some States had not been reporting COVID-19 cases timely. After persuading them, they have reported such cases. This is the reason for the sudden spurt in the number of cases since yesterday,” Agarwal said, adding that the issue has been addressed.
“We are very comfortable in terms of managing COVID-19 as of now, but any laxity at the field level or any lack of cooperation may have its consequences,” he warned.
Agarwal advised states to effectively implement contact tracing, active case search and focus on the clinical management of cases on the basis of the numbers reported.
Meanwhile, Twenty-four people including several serving and retired armed forces personnel have tested positive for Coronavirus at the Army’s premier Research and Referral hospital in the national capital, officials said today.
All the people who tested positive for the infection were from the hospital’s oncology ward and they were shifted to the Army’s Base hospital in Delhi Cantonment, they said.
The Base hospital has been designated to treat Coronavirus patients.
The 24 people were in-patients at the Research and Referral hospital and they included serving and retired military personnel as well as their dependents, the officials said.
After a patient tested positive, authorities at the premier hospital carried out a detailed contact tracing.
“Quarantine protocol and testing of those in high risk group was carried out,” said one of the officials.
It is the second biggest case of the outbreak hitting the armed forces.
Last month, 26 Indian Navy personnel tested positive for the infection at the strategically-located Western Naval Command in Mumbai.
On Friday, Army chief Gen MM Naravane said that 14 Coronavirus cases were found in the Army and five of them have recovered so far.
The Indian Air Force has not reported any Coronavirus case yet. (PTI)
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