Combating COVID-19: Centre rushes high-level teams to UP, Punjab and Himachal

NEW DELHI: High-level central teams have been deputed to Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to support them in COVID-19 response and management.

These states have been either reporting a rise in the number of active cases -- those who are hospitalised or are in home isolation under medical supervision, or demonstrating a rise in the daily new cases of coronavirus infections, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday.

Earlier, high-level teams were sent to Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Manipur and Chhattisgarh.

"These three-member teams will visit districts reporting a high number of COVID-19 cases and support the state efforts towards strengthening containment, surveillance, testing, infection prevention and control measures, and efficient clinical management of the positive cases.

"The central teams shall also guide in effectively managing the challenges related to timely diagnosis and follow up," the ministry said.

India's present active caseload has further declined to 4,40,962 and comprises 4.85 per cent of the total cases while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 93.69 per cent  with the country registering 43,493 new recoveries in a span of 24 hours taking the total recovered cases to 85,21,617.

"The gap between recovered and active cases is steadily increasing and presently stands at 80,80,655," the ministry highlighted.

The ministry said that 26 states and UTs have less than 20,000 active cases, as on date while 7 states and UTs have active cases between 20,000 and 50,000 whereas Maharashtra and Kerala are reporting more than 50,000 caseload.

Ten states and UTs contribute to 77.68 per cent of the new recovered cases.

Delhi saw 6,963 persons recovering from COVID-19.

Kerala and Maharashtra reported 6,719 and 4,088 new recoveries respectively.

Ten states and UTs have contributed 76.81 per cent of the new cases.

In a span of 24 hours, 45,209 persons were found to be infected with coronavirus.

Delhi reported 5,879 cases in a span of 24 hours.

Kerala recorded 5,772 new cases while Maharashtra reported 5,760 cases on Saturday.

Fifteen states and UTs are reporting less than the national average of cases per million population.

Besides, 76.45 per cent of the 501 case fatalities that have been reported in a day are from ten states and UTs.

Of the new fatalities, 22.16 per cent are from Delhi which reported 111 deaths.

Maharashtra saw a fatality count of 62 while West Bengal reported another 53.

Thirteen states and UTs are reporting higher than the national average of fatality rate (1.46%), the ministry said.

Twenty-one states and UTs are reporting lower than the national average of deaths per million (96).

Fourteen states and UTs have more deaths per million population than the national average (96).

India's COVID-19 caseload mounted to 90,95,806 with 45,209 infections being reported in a day, while the death toll climbed to 1,33,227 with 501 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.