In what can be seen as a ray of hope as India battles the Covid-19 pandemic along with the rest of the world, the latest figures from the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare show that as many as 979 patients or 10.47 per cent of the 9,346 Covid-19 cases have recovered.

According to the Ministry, 324 patients succumbed to the disease, which takes the mortality rate to 3.46 per cent. The numbers reveal that there is a slight spike in the number of cases recovered and deaths; as on April 6, 7.45 per cent cases had recovered and 2.59 per cent patients had died.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to address the nation on April 14. India’s 21-day lockdown period to battle Covid-19 ends that day and expectations are that Modi will share a roadmap on how to deal with the virus, including whether the nationwide lockdown will be extended or if it will be a rational or staggered one. In the video conference that the PM had with the States on April 11, most were of the opinion that the lockdown should be extended as States continue to trace and treat cases.

Doubling of cases

While the number of confirmed cases as on April 6 stood at 4,281, they nearly doubled to 8,447 by April 12 in six days. The doubling of cases has slowed slightly, while earlier cases had doubling after four days, after touching 2,069 cases on April 2.

Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, MoHFW, said places such as Gondia, Bilaspur, South Goa, Wayanad, Rajouri, Aizawl West, Mahe, Patna, Nalanda, Munger, Panipat, Rohtak and Sirsa had not reported new Covid-19 cases. However, over the past week, positive cases have been reported from newer districts, up to 354 from the earlier 284.

SC changes stand

Till April 12, the Indian Council of Medical Research had conducted 2,06,000 Covid-19 tests in public and private labs. While, earlier, the Supreme Court had ruled that private labs should conduct tests for free, it modified its stand on April 13 and said that it never intended to make tests free for those who could afford the same.

ICMR, in its affidavit to the apex court, said the Centre’s National Task Force was of the view that testing should not be done free, especially when certain components for carrying it out have to be imported. While ICMR has left it to the discretion of private labs to conduct free testing, it had imposed a price cap of ₹4,500 per test on private sector.

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The Supreme Court has, however, asked the government to issue guidelines on the eligibility of economically weaker sections to access these tests for free and has also clarified that beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat or those who fall under the below poverty line category can get tested for free.

“This directive will allow private labs to scale up testing to support the government during this national crisis. Metropolis is currently supporting the Maharashtra in its intent to scale up testing, and we have the capacity to do thousands of tests per day. We are scaling up drive-through and home visit testing significantly,” said Ameera Shah, Managing Director of Metropolis Healthcare.

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Cases in TN touch 1,1173

Chennai Bureau adds: About 98 Covid-19 cases were reported in Tamil Nadu on Monday taking the tally in the State to 1,173, said Health Secretary Beela Rajesh.

Maharashtra, with a total of 2,064 cases, is followed by Tami Nadu. Delhi comes third with 1,154 cases.

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