New Delhi: The total number of coronavirus positive cases in India reached 74,281 on Wednesday, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The tally is inclusive of 47,480 active cases, 24,385 cured/discharged patients and 2,415 deaths due to the infection.
While the doubling time earlier was 10.9 days, it has improved to 12.2 in the last few days.
According to MoHFW, Maharashtra has the most number of positive COVID-19 cases with 24,427 positive cases, followed by Gujarat with 8,903, and Tamil Nadu with 8,718 cases.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan today held a meeting via video conference with Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh to discuss the current COVID-19 situation in the state.
Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had yesterday announced a package worth Rs 20 lakh crore to deal with the economic crisis due to the COVID-19 and called for building a self-reliant India based on five pillars of economy, infrastructure, modern systems, technology, demography and demand.
Here are some COVID-19 related updates:
1. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today announced a series of liquidity measures for millions of small businesses reeling under the impact of COVID-19 lockdown, including collateral-free automatic loans worth Rs 3 lakh crore. Sitharaman also announced a Rs 30,000 crore special liquidity scheme for non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), housing finance companies (HFCs) and micro-finance institutions (MFIs).
2. The government has reduced statutory Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contribution of private-sector employers and employees from current mandated 12 per cent to 10 per cent for the next three months.
3. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar participated in the virtual meeting of Foreign Ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member countries today to discuss cooperation to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
4. Three new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Delhi taking the total number of cases in CRPF to 247 across the country. Meanwhile, the Border Security Force (BSF) also reported 13 more COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours.
5. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain today said that at least 359 more COVID-19 cases were reported in the national capital in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of coronavirus cases in the city to 7,998.
6. Twenty-nine more COVID-19 cases were reported from Bihar taking the total number of coronavirus cases in the state to 908. All the offices of Bihar Home Department at Sardar Patel Bhawan will remain closed till May 15 for sanitisation work in view of the coronavirus situation.
7. A total of 66 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Himachal Pradesh, its Health Department said on Wednesday. It includes, 25 active cases, four migrated, 35 recovered and two deaths.
8. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat today inaugurated the “Hope” (Helping out People Everywhere) portal in the presence of Cabinet members at the Secretariat. Only one new case of COVID-19 was reported in the state today taking the state tally to 70.
9. Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh today said that the state government has requested 20 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) from the Centre to help maintain law and order in the state.
10. The district administration in Pulwama has started a WhatsApp helpline to augment communication channels and establish interface between residents of the area and the authorities to combat the threat of coronavirus. (ANI)
