India’s Covid-19 cases totalled 20,471 on Wednesday.
Maharashtra's total count breached the 5,000-mark (5,218 cases), with over 250 deaths; this makes up one-fourth of the country’s count.
The State has recorded 251 deaths, the single highest, according to data provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Gujarat (2,272), Delhi (2,156), Rajasthan (1,801), Tamil Nadu (1,596), Madhya Pradesh (1,592) and Uttar Pradesh (1,412) are States where the cases have crossed the thousand-mark.
As many as 286 deaths have occurred in Gujarat (95), Delhi (47), Rajasthan (25), Tamil Nadu (18), Madhya Pradesh (80) and Uttar Pradesh (21).
Meanwhile, Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah and Minister for Health and Family Welfare Harshvardhan interacted with doctors and senior representatives of the Indian Medical Association on Wednesday. Even as he condemned the recent attacks on health professionals and said necessary arrangements would be put in place to prevent such incidents in future, Shah urged doctors not to resort to a symbolic protest.
The IMA has declared April 22 as a ‘White Alert Day’ to protest against the violence and discrimination meted out to doctors.
Also, recently, the Health Ministry directed all Chief Secretaries of States/UT to put in place adequate safety measures to protect health workers.
Role of ICMR
The ICMR has forwarded a protocol for using rapid antibody tests to all States. It has reiterated that these tests will be largely used as a surveillance tool.
The research body has assured help in collecting data from various States to assess the scope and extent of utility of the tests under field conditions; the ICMR will also advice States on a regular basis.
The Centre will be conducting a telephonic survey, wherein citizens will be contacted from the number 1921, through the National Informatics Centre. An official statement said: “This is a genuine survey. All citizens are requested to participate to help get proper feedback on the prevalence and distribution of Covid-19 symptoms.”
The government also cautioned against any other calls by pranksters or calls from any other number in the guise of such a similar survey.
“States/UTs are requested to inform the public about the survey through media,” it said.