India once again recorded more than 78,000 (78,512 to be exact) new cases of the coronavirus disease, bringing the national count to 3,621,245, according to data from the Union Ministry of Health.
This is the second day in a row that the number of Covid-19 cases has stayed above the 78,000 mark. By Sunday, India had set a world record after registering 78,761 cases of the infection.
The number of active cases in the country amounts to 7.81,975 while 27.74,801 patients have been discharged from hospital. The death toll reached 64,469 after 971 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry.
This occurs one day before the fourth phase of relaxation begins, called Unlocking 4. The central government has announced the resumption of metro train services and some other relaxation, which some experts say will lead to an increase in infections by Covid-19.
Dr Samiran Panda, head of Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases at the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), said Sunday that this increase in cases was expected, but noted that it is not a homogeneous phenomenon across states.
“It is happening in some foci and between groups where there is a mixture of the susceptible population and asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic cases that is leading to a transmission of the disease. Therefore, efforts must be made to interrupt this transmission in these pockets, ”said Dr. Panda.
In addition, testing has increased exponentially, leading to more cases being detected, he said.
Lead virologist Shahid Jameel said people are not following warnings about mask use, hand hygiene and social distancing, which is increasing the number of cases.
India conducted more than 10.5 lakhs of tests on Saturday, bringing the total number of tests to 4.14 million rupees, the Health Ministry said on Sunday.
The Center, taking into account the evolving global context of Covid-19, conceptualized and implemented the continuous care strategy of “test, trace and treat” in close coordination with the states and territories of the union, it said.
.
