India’s COVID tally dips to 3.68 lakh; Maharashtra, Delhi show signs of plateauing

The states that showed the biggest surge in cases from the start of April – Maharashtra, Delhi and Gujarat – are showing drop in daily COVID-19 count. In contrast, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura and West Bengal are reporting more cases every day.

Not just Maharashtra, Delhi and Gujarat, but Chhattisgarh, Daman and Diu, Jharkhand, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand too have recorded a drop in cases.

Union Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said the recovery rate jumped from 78 per cent on May 2, to almost 82 percent on May 3. “However, these are very early signals and this is too early to analyse the situation. It is important to have continued efforts of containment at district and state level so that we can preserve these gains and reduce cases further,” Agarwal said.

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The Joint Secretary expressed concern about rising cases in other states. He was particularly worried about the situation in Andaman and Nicobar, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Odisha, Pudcherry, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and West Bengal, where cases are increasing every day.

Considering the growing need for oxygen, Agarwal said the Centre is looking at the feasibility of converting existing nitrogen plants to produce oxygen. A day before, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself reviewed the progress of converting nitrogen plants into oxygen plants.

The official said that till Monday, 12.07 crore (first dose for 10.53 crore people and second dose for 1.54 crore) people above the age of 45 years have been vaccinated.

The country’s overall tally showed a significant drop on Monday with over 3.68 lakh fresh cases reported in the past 24 hours and 3,417 fatalities.

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Despite a dip, Maharashtra still contributed the most cases (56,647), followed by Karnataka (37,733), Kerala (31,959), Uttar Pradesh (30,857) and Andhra Pradesh (23,920).