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A COVID-19 patient being brought in an e-rickshaw for treatments at Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital in Prayagraj. (PTI Photo)
Coronavirus Cases in India Today Live, Coronavirus Lockdown in India May 5 Live Updates: The horrifying scenes from India’s hospitals, cremation/burial grounds that stunned the world and showed the gruesome impact of the second wave of coronavirus in the second most populous nation on the Earth have not improved despite some states reporting a significantly lower number of new Covid-19 infections. What has changed is the testing pattern and with the new guidelines issued by the ICMR last night, India may register a further dip in daily caseload. However, experts say that this may result in actual infections not getting detected and that may result in other super-spreader events. So, what changes now? The ICMR says that states should go for rapid antigen rather than the RT-PCR, which is considered the best possible test for diagnosing Covid-19 infection. The new norms come into effect at a time when the diagnostic centres across the country face huge backlogs due to a massive surge in cases and testing. Another key element of the new rules says that now those travelling across states need not undergo the RT-PCR test.
Meanwhile, despite help pouring in from across the world, many states have said that they have not received any relief material. The Centre maintains that it has streamlined the process and sending the Oxygen devices and other things via proper channels. With the High Courts berating the Centre and state governments, one can only hope that situation improves without artificial gimmicks of antigen results and lower testing. As India continues its war against Covid here are the latest verified news and other developments from across the country and around the world:
For the first time since the pandemic began, teh Delhi govt missed to release the daily health bulletin. A day later on Wednesday morning, the Delhi govt released the Tuesday numbers and said that it is ‘deeply sorry’ for the miss. According to the official data, 19,953 fresh Covid-19 infections and 338 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours on Tuesday.
The official data released by the ICMR says that on May 4, over 15 lakh tests were carried out across the country. This is far lower than the previous high of 19 lakh tests. Health experts have been warning about lower testing. It is said that the lower number of tests may give a lesser number of results. But this doesn’t actually mean that the viral spread has turned flat. It just means that we don’t know the extent of the spread. This unchecked transmission will be devastating as we are currently experiencing here in India.
The number of Covid deaths neared the 4,000-mark as India saw its deadliest day since the pandemic began last year. According to the health ministry, 3,780 Covid deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours. The official data also said that 3.82 lakh new Covid-19 infections were detected in the last 24 hours.
The High Courts across India have made it clear with their sharp observations that the out-of-control coronavirus pandemic is result of gross mismanagement both at the Centre and state level. After the Madras High Court and the Delhi High Court, the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday also made very curt observations over the acute Oxygen crisis in the country. The High Court said that the hospitals not getting enough Oxygen that is resulting in deaths of patients is not only a ‘criminal act’ but also ‘an act of genocide’. The observation comes at a time when Twitter has become the Oxygen helpline for frantic patients and their families in India. The Centre have been talking about Oxygen tankers being sent via rail/air etc and that there is no shortage, the ground reality is starkly different.
Hello and welcome to our live blog on the Covid crisis. There was a strong buzz yesterday about some announcement regarding national lockdown. While nothing of such sort was announced during the evening, many said that India may not have a 2020-like hard lockdown but the majority of the country is under some kind of restrictions. Call it corona curfew, night curfew or break the chain programme, almost every state has issued some kind of curbs to check the Covid surge. National Capital Delhi is under lockdown, so is neighbouring Haryana. Uttar Pradesh has corona curfew in force whereas Bihar clamped down a total lockdown yesterday. Maharashtra has shown to other states that without disturbing the supply chain, how can local administration bring down the viral cases.