New Delhi: The number of positive cases of coronavirus COVID-19 in the country reached 8,447 with 909 fresh cases in the past 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday (April 12). At least 34 deaths have been reported since Saturday, said the ministry.
According to the ministry, a total of 764 patients have been discharged so far, out of which 74 recovered in the past 24 hours.
Addressing a daily briefing on the coronavirus situation of the country, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said that on March 29, the country had 979 positive cases which, by April 12, has reached to 8,447. "Of these, 20 per cent of cases need ICU support. So, today too 1,671 patients need oxygen support and critical care treatment. This figure is important to show that that government is planning things in being over-prepared," he said.
India is trying to develop vaccine for coronavirus:
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)'s Dr. Manoj Murhekar and Bramh Prakash Dubey said during the briefing today that more than 40 vaccines are under development but none have reached the next stage. As of now, there is no vaccine.
"In the last five days, the average number of samples that have been tested is 15,747 per day and the average number of samples which tested positive is 584," Murhekar said.
Railway coaches to be converted into isolation wards:
At least 20,000 coaches of Indian Railways are being converted to isolation wards across the country out of which, at least 5,000 have been converted so far, Bramh Prakash Dubey said.
Dedicated COVID-19 hospitals in states:
Delhi's AIIMS has 250 beds, 50 ICU beds and some beds have high dependence units. Safdarjung hospital in Delhi has 500 beds. Delhi's Apollo hospital has a 250-bed hospital and four testing labs. Tamil Nadu will soon have a 350-bed hospital which will soon be expanded to a 500-bed capacity. Kerala has 950-bed hospital and Gujarat 1200. 9,000-bed military hospital and an additional 7,000 beds are also available.
Supply of essential commodities under control:
The situation regarding essential commodities is under control in the MHA control room. Officials of Ministries of Civil Aviation, Consumer Affairs and Railways have been working in coordination with states to resolve logistics problems, said Punya Salila Srivastava, Joint Secretary, MHA.
The health ministry also pointed out that resurgence of COVID-19 cases in China, Japan and Korea is a matter of concern.
