Hyderabad: Ten days after recording two lakh COVID-19 cases, India surpassed the three lakh-mark on Saturday with the worst daily spike of 11,458 infections, while the death toll too climbed to 8,884 with 386 new fatalities. As India enters a crucial stage in COVID-19 containment, here we look at the top developments from across the states.
Maharashtra
Maharashtra government has reduced the rates of the COVID-19 tests conducted by private laboratories from Rs 4,500 to Rs 2,200. The revised rates are the maximum these labs can charge. District collectors can negotiate with private labs to reduce the rates further.
There are 91 labs in the state for COVID-19 testing and about four to five are in the pipeline. While the tests are free at the government-run laboratories, the ICMR had fixed charges at private labs at Rs 4,500.
Meanwhile, Akola accounts for 914 active cases becoming one of the worst-hit districts in the country. The regions fatality rate is 4.7% which is slightly higher than that of Maharashtra which has a fatality rate of 3.6%. The national fatality rate is way below- at 2.81%. A total of 46 infected people have died in Akola so far.
As for the infections among police personnel, four more died taking the toll to 40. Around 1,382 personnel are currently undergoing treatment in the state.
In some positive news, a 12-days-old baby and her mother recovered from coronavirus in Pune and were discharged today.
New Delhi
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan will hold a meeting with Delhi LG Anil Baijal and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and members of the State Disaster Management Authorities to review the situation in the national capital regarding the novel coronavirus.
Gujarat
With over 23 workers, employed at eight different diamond firms in Surat, testing positive the civic authorities have ordered partial closure of all such firms and asked their other staff members to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine.
The Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) said that it has ordered the closure of certain floors and departments of these eight diamond units located in the city's Katargam locality, to contain the spread of coronavirus. Surat is the biggest diamond cutting and polishing hubs of the country.
Meanwhile, the Sola High Court police station has become a model for its measures to contain the COVID-19 spread. Not a single staff has tested positive so far. Sanitisation, a glass partition and an awareness campaign undertaken through posters is turning to be an effective way to keep the virus away.
Jharkhand
Raising serious concerns regarding reinfection of the coronavirus, a migrant worker from Mahuri village in Giridih has tested positive again after being discharged.
He was being treated in RIMS, Ranchi and was sent home after results came negative on May 21. After completing the 14-day quarantine period, the worker has again tested positive. The village will remain under lockdown for the next 13 days.
Punjab
Assistant Sub Inspector of Punjab Police passed away due to COVID-19. Sukhdial Singh (55) of Tarn Taran district was getting treated at Amritsar. In Tarn Taran, so far 177 corona positive cases have been detected out of which 168 have recovered.
Madhya Pradesh
Congress MLA Kunal Choudhary from Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal on Saturday tested positive for coronavirus disease in addition to 51 other people, taking the Covid-19 case count beyond 10,000 with a total of 440 fatalities in the state.
Uttarakhand
After Kerala and Odisha, Uttarakhand has become the third state in the country to approve the Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020.
Under the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897, whosoever will violate rules of coronavirus restrictions, face mask and quarantine etc, will face a maximum six months imprisonment and a penalty of Rs 5000.
Bihar
On Saturday, 87 new corona cases have been reported in Bihar. With this, the number of infected in the state has increased to 6183.
Education Minister Krishna Nandan Verma said that educational institutions will remain shut and situation will be reviewed in the last week of July.
