NEW DELHI, Aug 3: Congress MP Karti Chidambaram and CPI (M) politburo member Mohammed Salim were among the prominent politicians who tested positive for COVID-19 as a rapid spike in cases took the tally in the country to over 18 lakh today.
“I have just tested positive for #Covid. My symptoms are mild and as per medical advice I am under home quarantine. I would urge all those who have recently been in contact with me to follow medical protocol,” Karti, who is the son of Congress leader P Chidambaram and represents Sivaganga Lok Sabha constituency, said.
On Sunday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and UP State BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh had said that they have tested positive for Coronavirus.
IT and Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said he has gone into self-isolation for a few days as per protocol as he had met Shah on Saturday evening.
“Friends! I’m absolutely fine. To follow protocol I hv isolated myself at home for few days as I had met Amit Shah Ji on Saturday evening for n official meeting. I’m working from home & following daily routine including Yoga & exercise. Also reading books & enjoying classical music,” Prasad said on Twitter.
Shah had on Sunday tweeted that he had tested for COVID-19 after showing initial symptoms. He said that his health was fine and he was getting admitted to a hospital on the advice of doctors.
Earlier, Union Minister Babul Supriyo too had tweeted that he is going into self-isolation since he had met Shah a day before.
CPI (M) leader Mohammed Salim said that he has been hospitalised and was showing mild symptoms of coronavirus.
“I have tested positive for Coronavirus with very mild symptoms but I got myself admitted into a hospital as per the advice of my attending doctor. This decision also aims at avoiding all kinds of risks of infection amongst my friends, family & neighbours,” he tweeted.
The 63-year-old former MP from Raiganj constituency has been admitted to a private hospital in Kolkata.
The CPI said its Bihar state council secretary Satya Narayan, who had tested positive for COVID-19, passed away on Sunday.
In a video message, Karnataka Chief Minister Yediyurappa, who was admitted to a hospital here Sunday night after testing positive for COVID-19, said there was no need for anyone to worry and he will soon get back to work after recovery.
The Manipal Hospital where the 77-year-old leader is admitted said he was “doing well” and “clinically stable.”
While one of his daughters has also tested positive for COVID-19 and is admitted to the same private hospital, his son B Y Vijayendra said he was going for seven days of home quarantine as a precautionary measure.
Contact tracing and sanitising activities have been carried out at the Chief Ministers home office and official residence here, following which it emerged that at least six staffers have been confirmed with the infection, official sources said.
Yediyurappa is the fourth member of his cabinet to contract the disease after Forest Minister Anand Singh, Tourism Minister C T Ravi and Agriculture Minister B C Patil.
Karnataka governor Vajubhai Vala and Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai, whom the chief minister had met on July 31, have tested negative.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who has been in Chirayu Medical College and Hospital in Bhopal since July 25, will undergo further hospitalisation after a COVID-19 test conducted on the 9th day returned positive.
A health bulletin from the hospital said, “CM’s RT-PCR test for SARS-Cov-2 on 9th day was positive. His medical parameters are normal.”
MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra said the Chouhan will stay in hospital for now.
Chouhan had tweeted on Sunday that he was healthy and not showing any symptoms of the infection, and had said he would be discharged if a sample collected for tests during the day returns negative.
Four legislators — Uttar Pradesh minister Kamal Rani, Bihar BJP MLC Sunil Kumar Singh, Trinamool MLA from West Bengal Tamonash Ghosh and DMK legislator from Tamil Nadu J Anbazhagan – have succumbed to COVID-19.
In UP, Jal Shakti Minister Mahendra Singh, Jai Health Minister Pratap Singh, Rural Development Minister Rajendra Pratap Singh alias Moti Singh, Sainik Kalyan Minister Chetan Chauhan, Ayush Minister Dharam Singh Saini and Youth Development Minister Upendra Tiwari had tested positive for COVID-19.
According to the Union Health Ministry, the total coronavirus cases surged to 18,03,695, while the death toll climbed to 38,135.
There are 5,79,357 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country at present while the recoveries have increased to 11,86,203.
The COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 65.77 per cent, while the fatality rate is at 2.11 per cent, the data stated.
Meanwhile, India’s COVID-19 tally crossed the 18-lakh mark on Monday, just a day after it went past 17 lakh, with 52,972 cases reported in a day while the number of recoveries surged to over 11.86 lakh, according to the Union Health Ministry data.
The number of COVID-19 tests carried out in India has also crossed the 2 crore-mark, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
The total Coronavirus cases surged to 18,03,695, while the death toll due to COVID-19 climbed to 38,135 with 771 people succumbing to the disease in a day, the data updated at 8 am showed.
There are 5,79,357 active cases of Coronavirus infection in the country at present while the recoveries have increased to 11,86,203.
As many as 40,574 people have recovered from COVID-19 in a day, according to the data.
The COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 65.77 per cent, while the fatality rate is at 2.11 per cent, the data stated.
The total number of confirmed cases also includes foreigners.
This is the fifth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 50,000 in the country. India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 17-lakh mark on Sunday.
According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 2,02,02,858 samples have been tested up to August 2 with 3,81,027 samples being tested on Sunday.
Of the 771 fresh deaths reported, 260 are from Maharashtra, 98 from Tamil Nadu, 84 from Karnataka, 67 from Andhra Pradesh, 53 from Uttar Pradesh, 49 from West Bengal, 22 from Gujarat, 20 from Bihar, 18 from Punjab, 15 from Delhi, 13 from Rajasthan, 10 each from Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.
Five fatalities each have been reported from Haryana, Goa and Jharkhand, four each from Assam and Tripura, three each from Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh, one each from Chandigarh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Puducherry, Manipur and Kerala.
Of the total 38,135 deaths, Maharashtra has reported the maximum at 15,576 followed by 4,132 in Tamil Nadu, 4,004 in Delhi, 2,496 in Karnataka, 2,486 in Gujarat, 1,730 in Uttar Pradesh, 1,678 in West Bengal, 1,474 in Andhra Pradesh and 886 in Madhya Pradesh.
So far, 703 people have died of COVID-19 in Rajasthan, 540 in Telangana, 433 in Haryana, 423 in Punjab, 329 in Bihar, 197 in Odisha, 118 in Jharkhand, 105 in Assam, 86 in Uttarakhand, 82 in Kerala.
Chhattisgarh has registered 58 deaths, Goa 53, Puducherry 52, Tripura 27, Chandigarh 19, Himachal Pradesh 14, Andaman and Nicobar Islands eight deaths, Manipur seven, Meghalaya and Nagaland five each, Arunachal Pradesh three, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu two and Sikkim one.
The Health Ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.
“Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the Ministry said, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.
Meanwhile, India has carried out over two crore tests for detection of COVID-19 pursuant to the key strategy of “test aggressively, track efficiently and isolate and treat promptly”, the Government said today, hailing the milestone as a “landmark achievement”.
A cumulative total of 2,02,02,858 samples have been tested up to August 2 with 3,81,027 samples being tested on Sunday, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) data.
With 3,81,027 samples tested in the last 24 hours, the number of Test Per Million (TPM) has increased to 14,640, the Health Ministry said in a statement.
While the country’s TPM has demonstrated a steady upward trend indicating the growing testing network, 24 States and Union Territories have reported higher testing per million than the national average.
The 24 States and UTs having a TPM higher than the national average includes Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka and Punjab.
“In a landmark achievement, India has tested 2,02,02,858 COVID-19 samples so far. This is pursuant to the key strategy followed by State/UT Governments under the guidance of Centre for management of COVID-19 to ‘test aggressively, track efficiently and isolate and treat promptly’,” the Ministry said.
The testing lab network in the country is continuously strengthened with 1,348 labs in the country — 914 labs in the Government sector and 434 private labs.
Having started with one single laboratory at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune and then expanding to 100 laboratories around the beginning of the lockdown, the ICMR on June 23 validated the 1000th testing lab.(PTI)
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