Learn to live with coronavirus, says govt as cases cross 56,000

Over the last few days cases in India are rising at a much faster pace than before, raising serious concerns

India has reported 3,390 new Covid-19 cases and 103 deaths in a single day. 

With this the number of cases in the country rose to 56,342 and deaths to 1,886, according to the health ministry data. 

“India’s recovery rate stands at 29.36 per cent with 16,540 Covid-19 patients cured till now, including 1,273 who recovered in the last 24 hours,” said Lav Agarwal, joint secretary, Union ministry of health and family welfare. “A few states have seen an increase in the number of cases over the past few days. Cases may spike if everyone does not cooperate with the preventive measures,” he said.

 

 

On the projection of a peak expected in June-July, Agarwal said the figures are of a wide range and if we follow do’s and don’ts, India might be able to avoid the peak. “We have to learn to live with the virus. All precautions have to be taken to protect oneself from the disease,” he added. As many as 216 districts in the country have not reported any Covid-19 cases till now, 42 districts have not registered any infections in the last 28 days, and 29 districts have not recorded any case in the last 21 days, the Union health ministry said on Friday. Agarwal also said the health ministry is studying repurposing core drugs to treat Covid-19. 

The national ethics committee has also given approval to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for a randomised control trial to test the safety and efficacy of convalescent plasma therapy in 21 hospitals across states.  The government has also launched two interdisciplinary clinical research studies to be undertaken as a joint effort by ministries of Ayush, health and science and technology along with the ICMR. 

The first research will focus on the use of Ayurveda as prophylaxis and its usage as additional support for standard care for Covid-19. The government will also study the impact of Ayurveda on the high-risk population susceptible to Covid-19. 

The ministry is also in the process of analysing the state data to update the list of districts in the red, orange and green zones. Currently, 130 districts are in the red zone, 284 in the orange and 319 in the green zone.