Death rate due to COVID-19 on lower side at 3 pc, cases near 25k

New Delhi, (thestates.news)  While the total number of Novel Coronavirus(COVID 19) patients in the country reached 24942 on Saturday, the recovery rate of people infected with this virus has increased to 20.66 per cent, while the death rate was around 3.1 per cent, which was comparatively better than most of the countries in the world.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family welfare data, the death toll mounted to 779 with 61 deaths in the past 36 hours. However, there was an improvement in the number of cured and discharged cases with the figure for now resting at 5201. Active COVID cases in the country at present stand at 18,953.
Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan chaired the 13th meeting of the high level Group of Ministers  on COVID-19 in New Delhi, to review the current status of COVID-19 in the country. He was informed that since Friday, an increase of 1429 new cases has been reported. Also, a total of 24,506 people have been confirmed positive for COVID-19.
On the initiative of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, a Control Room has been set up in the Lok Sabha Secretariat with immediate effect to facilitate quicker interface between MPs, MLAs and the public for emergency assistance in the fight against COVID-19.
The Control Room has started functioning with immediate effect in Parliament House. Rajasthan, Haryana, Odisha, Delhi, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh have become the first states, wherein control rooms have been set up in their respective Legislature Secretariats.
In order to maintain social distancing to prevent the spread of Novel Coronavirus, nearly 500 prisoners from Beur jail were shifted to Buxar, Bhagalpur and other jails of Bihar and more than 500 prisoners booked under Excise Act were released on bail, during the month-long lockdown period.
Official sources said in Patna that the step was initiated in view of the increasing coronavirus infection and to protect the prisoners from any infection.
Restrictions on movement and assembly of people to curtail the spread of Coronavirus were further intensified as the holy month of Ramzan commenced in Kashmir valley, which recorded the biggest single-day jump of 40 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of infected people to 494 in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
With this, as many as 138 from Kashmir were tested positive for the infection this week so far, prompting the authorities to further tighten the lockdown, which remained imposed since March 18. In view of upward spiral in COVID-19 cases in the valley, experts have advised people in ‘Red Zones’ not to venture out of their homes except under medical emergencies.(uni)