India records 9,304 new COVID-19 cases, highest single-day spike so far

India saw a record single-day jump of 9,304 COVID-19 cases on Thursday (June 4), pushing the nationwide tally to 2,16,919, while the death toll due to the virus climbed to 6,075 with 260 new fatalities, according to the Union health ministry.

India stood seventh among the nations worst hit by the COVID-19 pandemic after the US, Brazil, Russia, the UK, Spain, and Italy.

The health ministry said the number of active COVID-19 cases in the country stood at 1,06,737 till 8 am on Thursday.

The country has now registered over 8,000 fresh cases for the fifth consecutive day, according to government data.

A total of 1,04,107 patients have recovered from the disease in the country so far, with 3,804 of them recovering in the last 24 hours.

“The recovery rate is 47.99 per cent amongst COVID-19 patients,” the ministry said.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 42,42,718 samples were tested for coronavirus infection as on 9 am on Thursday, with 1,39,485 of those tested in the last 24 hours.

“The apex health research body, ICMR, has further ramped up the testing capacity for detecting the novel coronavirus in infected persons. The number of government laboratories has been increased to 498 and that of private laboratories to 212,” the ministry said.

How are states faring?

Tamil Nadu

COVID cases continued to surge in Tamil Nadu, which recorded on Thursday the biggest single day spike of 1,384 cases and 12 deaths taking the infection tally to 27,256 and toll to 220.

Of the new cases, Chennai alone accounted for 1,072 which is the highest single day increase for the state capital, pushing the case count to 18,693, a health department bulletin said.

Furthermore, 16,447 samples were tested on June 4, which again, is the highest number of specimens examined in a single day in Tamil Nadu and totally 5,44,981 samples have been tested so far.

Kerala

Meanwehile, in the highest single day spike, Kerala on Thursday reported 94 positive cases of coronavirus and three deaths in the state taking the infection count to 1,588 and fatalities to 14.

“Of the 94 new cases in state today, 47 came to the state from abroad, 37 from other states, and seven contracted the disease through contact,” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.

Other states

Of the 6,075 fatalities, Maharashtra has reported the maximum of 2,587, followed by Gujarat (1,122), Delhi (606), Madhya Pradesh (371), West Bengal (345), Uttar Pradesh (229), Rajasthan (209), Tamil Nadu (208), Telangana (99) and Andhra Pradesh (68).

The death toll has reached 53 in Karnataka, 47 in Punjab, 34 in Jammu and Kashmir, 25 in Bihar, 23 in Haryana, 11 in Kerala, eight in Uttarakhand, and seven in Odisha.

According to the health ministry’s website, more than 70 per cent of the deaths were due to comorbidities.

The highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has been reported from Maharashtra at 74,860, followed by Tamil Nadu (25,872), Delhi (23,645), Gujarat (18,100), Rajasthan (9,652), Madhya Pradesh (8,588), and Uttar Pradesh (8,729).

The number of coronavirus cases has risen to 6,508 in West Bengal, 4,390 in Bihar and 4,080 in Andhra Pradesh. Karnataka has reported 4,063 cases, Telangana 3,020, Haryana 2,954, Jammu and Kashmir 2,857, and Odisha 2,388.

On its website, the Union health ministry said, “7,483 cases are being reassigned to states. Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR.”

State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it added.

Onus on healthcare workers to protect themselves from COVID-19, says Centre

Meanwhile, the Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that though hospitals are responsible for implementing the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) activities, the final responsibility lies with the healthcare workers to protect themselves from COVID-19.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare told the top court that it is the responsibility of healthcare workers to adequately train themselves and take all possible measures for preventing infections, which not only include COVID but other diseases as well.

Arushi Jain, a private doctor, in her plea has questioned the Centre’s new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of May 15 for front line COVID-19 Health Care Workers (HCWs) by which it has ended the 14-day mandatory quarantine for them.

In its reply to the plea, the ministry said, “It is submitted that while the Hospital Infection Control Committee (HICC) in the health facility is responsible for implementing the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) activities and for organising regular training on IPC for HCWs, the final responsibility lies with the HCW to prevent infection and to protect himself/ herself.”

It said that it is also his/her responsibility to adequately train himself/herself and take all possible measures for preventing the infection and if adequate measures are scrupulously observed, the HCWs’ chances of contracting the infection would not be higher than that of any other person.

(With inputs from agencies)