India reported the single-day spike of 10,956 fresh COVID-19 cases and 396 deaths in the last 24 hours. With this, the total number of infections in the country rose to 2,97,535, including 1,41,842 active cases, 1,47,194 cured and 8,498 deaths, the health ministry said on Friday. The number of recoveries are more than the active novel coronavirus cases for the third consecutive day. With today’s cases, India has surpassed the United Kingdom in terms of coronavirus cases to become the fourth worst-hit country, according to John Hopkins Coronavirus Research Centre.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Friday said that no coercive action will be taken against private firms which failed to pay full wages during the lockdown period, adding that industries and labourers need each other and efforts should be made to resolve dispute over wage payments. The court asked states to facilitate settlement between firms and employees over wage payment and submit reports before labour commissioners. It also asked the Centre to file an affidavit within 4 weeks on the legality of March 29 circular that mandated payment of full wages during the lockdown.
The ICMR has termed the lockdown phases as “successful” in containing the rapid spread of the virus. Less than one per cent of 26,400 people, randomly chosen from 65 districts with varied caseloads, were exposed to the coronavirus in the first month of the national lockdown, according to the first phase of a nationwide sampling to check for the pandemic’s spread via testing for antibodies.
The spike in cases has pushed states to seek requisitions of isolation coaches from the Indian Railways to accommodate as beds for Covid positive patients and avoid overwhelming the health infrastructure. The Centre has warned that five most affected states — Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh — going by current trends, are projected to fall short in terms of ICU beds and ventilators between June and August.
Globally, 7,514,475 people have been infected with the virus and at least 421,458 have died. As many as 3,540,693 people have recovered across the world so far. The United States, with over 2 lakh infections and 113,820 deaths, remains the worst-hit country.
