From Our Bureau
24th APRIL 2020
A total of 23,077 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the country so far and the death toll rose to 718 on Friday. The tally included 1,684 fresh cases and 37 new deaths reported in the last 24 hours. As many as 4,748 persons, that is, 20.57 per cent of the total cases, have been cured/ discharged after recovery, according to the latest update from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Through a graded, pre-emptive and pro-active approach, Government of India is taking several steps along with the States/UTs for prevention, containment and management of COVID-19. These are being regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today interacted with Panchayat Sarpanches across the country through a video conference. The sarpanches shared their experiences and efforts to maintain lockdown measures. The Prime Minister said that true lessons can be learned during crises and the present times have taught us the biggest lesson of self-reliance. He appealed to the Panchayats to strengthen their infrastructure and promote awareness in downloading the Corona tracker app “Arogya Setu ” for better vigilance.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, interacted today with all the State Health Ministers and Health Secretaries through a video conference to review the preparedness and actions taken for management of COVID-19. He thanked the States for their efforts so far and requested them to focus on districts reporting a higher number of cases or faster doubling rate of their cases and districts where high case mortality is being noted.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan urged the States to focus on surveillance, house-to-house active case finding, early identification of cases and proper clinical management to ensure that the patients get timely treatment and mortality is reduced. He also urged the Health Ministers to personally review the measures being undertaken against stigma and discrimination of doctors and other frontline health workers, as also patients who have COVID-19 or those that have recovered.
Earlier, Dr. Harsh Vardhan also interacted with the Health Ministers of all member countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) through a video conference and shared India’s journey so far in management of COVID-19 and also highlighted that India’s management efforts are based on the twin principles of community engagement and containment efforts.
As on today, 15 districts in the country which earlier had cases have not reported any fresh cases since the last 28 days. Besides districts already highlighted, three new districts which got added to this list include: Durg & Rajnandgaon from Chattisgarh; and Shivpuri from Madhya Pradesh. Further, a total of 80 districts from 23 States/UTs have not reported any new cases since the last 14 days. (eom)
