Amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in the country, the central government has announced it will conduct a telephonic survey on the nocel coronavirus. A Ministry of Health and Family Welfare notification says some citizens will get a call from the number 1921 for the COVID-19 survey, which will be carried out by the National Informatics Centre (NIC).
The date for the survey is yet to announced. The ministry has requested people to "participate in a good measure when a call comes in from the number 1921 to enable proper feedback of the prevalence and distribution of COVID-19 symptoms."
The health ministry also warned that people should be aware of any calls they receive from pranksters or any other number disguised as a genuine-looking helpline. "Only a phone call from the number 1921 is an authentic survey-related call," the health ministry notification said.
The union ministry has also asked the states and union territories to inform people about the survey and also about the phishing attempts by dubious callers. The state/UT health departments have also been asked to post information on their official websites.
The government has also warned people from giving out any personal information to pranksters.
Eight states including Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat account for 80.96 per cent of the 93,249 new daily COVID-19 cases, according to the Union Health Ministry. India is seeing a steep intensification in the doubling time of the COVID-19 cases. As of April 4, it is 115.4 days, the ministry said on Sunday. India's total active caseload has reached 6,91,597 and now comprises 5.54 per cent of the country's total infections. A net rise of 32,688 cases recorded in the total active caseload in a span of 24 hours.
Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Punjab cumulatively account for 76.41 per cent of the total active cases in the country, the ministry said.
Maharashtra alone accounts for more than half (58.19%) of the total active caseload of the country. India saw 93,249 new coronavirus infections being reported in a span of 24 hours, the highest single day rise so far this year, taking the nationwide COVID-19 tally of cases to 1,24,85,509 , according to the ministry data updated on Sunday morning.
