New Delhi: India continued to report over 3,000 COVID cases for the second day in a row with 3,095 new infections in the last 24 hours, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Friday (March 31). The country recorded the highest one-day fresh infections in the last nearly six months. The country had reported 3,016 cases on Thursday with a case positivity rate of 2.73 per cent which declined to 2.61 per cent today. The weekly positivity rate jumped to 1.91 per cent today from 1.71 per cent yesterday.
According to the Ministry, the active caseload in the country increased from 13,509 yesterday to 15,208 today which is 0.03 of the total number of cases.
Also Read: Haryana Government Issues Fresh Guidelines For COVID-19
As many as 1,390 patients recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 4,41,69,711.
The recovery rate in the country currently is 98.78 per cent. The Ministry informed that 220.65 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under Nationwide Vaccination Drive, of which 95.20 crore are second doses and 22.86 crore are precaution doses. 6,553 COVID vaccine doses have been administered in last 24 hours, the Ministry said.
As far as the testing in the country is concerned amid the rising COVID cases, 1,18,694 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has issued revised guidelines for Covid-19 in the wake of the surge of cases in the past week across the country. The revised guidelines said,
Antibiotics should not be used unless there is clinical suspicion of bacterial infection. The possibility of coinfection of COVID-19 with other endemic infections must be considered. Systemic corticosteroids are not indicated in mild disease.
As per the revised Covid-19 guidelines
Maintain physical distancing, indoor mask use, hand hygiene, Symptomatic management (hydration, antipyretics, antitussive) Monitor temperature and oxygen saturation (by applying a SpO probe to fingers) Stay in contact with the treating physician.
The guidelines discussed and prepared in January said,
Seek immediate medical attention if difficulty breathing, High-grade fever/ severe cough, particularly if lasting for more than 5 days. A low threshold is to be kept for those with any of the high-risk features.
Additionally, in moderate or severe diseases at high risk of progression, the guidelines recommend,
Consider Remdesivir for up to 5 days (200 mg IV on day 1 followed by 100 mg IV OD for the next 4 days).
Also Read: Maharashtra: As Cases Rise, Solapur, Sangli Districts Top COVID-19 Positivity Chart
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
