Union Health Ministry on Thursday asserted that a total of 941 new coronavirus cases and 37 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total cases in the country to 12,380 along with 414 deaths. Another 1489 people have recovered and 183 in a single day.
Addressing a press conference Health Ministry Joint Secretary Luv Agarwal said that 325 districts across India have not reported any positive case so far. Agarwal also asserted that Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had a meeting with the people of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and health sector officials on April 15. They thanked the Indian industry sector for fund donations and praised the industry for Make in India.
Clean water for all has been recommended and all the states have been advised to work for maternity, infectious diseases other than essential services. Immunizations have been ordered to be reinstated and also follow-up instructions for necessary rescue. Environmental assessment has also been done.
India received the much-awaited five lakh rapid COVID-19 testing kits from China on Thursday, the government said. The Head of Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases at ICMR, Dr Raman R Gangakhedkar, however, said these testing kits will be used for surveillance and to monitor whether coronavirus hotspots in the country are increasing or decreasing.
Regarding concern over the efficacy of the rapid antibody testing kits, he said if an antibody test of a person turns out to be positive, one cannot necessarily be sure the person would not get infected ever again.
"This means, even if the antibody is present, that doesn't mean it will necessarily be effectively able to fight the virus. Rapid antibody tests are for monitoring surveillance, not for a diagnosis. Hence there is no concern with respect to the testing kits being faulty, that concern was with respect to immune response alone," Dr Gangakhedkar explained.
It has also said that the state governments have made big efforts to impose lockdown and strict action is being taken where there are reports of violations. "All the necessary items are being provided. In the area which is not a hotspot, permission for selected activities will be given from April 20, provided the lockdown is strictly followed. No more than five people can gather in a public place. Restrictions on alcoholism should be strictly followed," said Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) spokesperson Salila Srivastava.
Everyone has been asked to put face masks and spitting in public places will not be allowed.
