Death toll rises to 1389, cases 42,836

NEW DELHI, May 4:
The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 1,389 and the total number of cases climbed to 42,836 in the country today, registering an increase of 83 deaths and a record jump of 2,573 cases in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said.
The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 29,685, while 11,761 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said.
“Thus, around 27.45 per cent people have recovered so far from the disease,” a senior Health ministry official said.
The total number of COVID-19 cases also include 111 foreign nationals.
A total of 83 deaths were reported since Sunday evening, of which 28 fatalities were reported from Gujarat, 27 from Maharashtra, nine from Madhya Pradesh, six from Rajasthan, three from Andhra Pradesh, two each from West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, and one each from Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telengana, Karnataka and Uttarkahand, the Ministry said.
Maharashtra has recorded the highest number of fatalities at 548. Gujarat comes second with 290 deaths followed by Madhya Pradesh at 165, Rajasthan at 71, Delhi at 64, Uttar Pradesh at 45, Andhra Pradesh at 36 and West Bengal at 35.
The death toll reached 30 in Tamil Nadu and 29 in Telengana, while Karnataka has reported 26 fatalities due to the respiratory disease, it said.
Punjab has registered 21 COVID-19 deaths, Haryana five and Kerala and Bihar have reported four deaths each. Jharkhand has recorded three COVID-19 fatalities.
Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Assam and Uttarakhand have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry data.
However, a PTI tally of the figures reported by various states as on Monday showed the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country as 43,685 and the death toll as 1,413.
There has been a lag in the Union Health Ministry figures, compared to the number of deaths announced by different states, which officials attribute to procedural delays in assigning the cases to individual states.
According to the Health Ministry data updated on Monday evening, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 12,974, followed by Gujarat at 5,428, Delhi at 4,549, Tamil Nadu at 3,023, Madhya Pradesh at 2,942, Rajasthan at 2,886 and Uttar Pradesh 2,742.
The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 1,650 in Andhra Pradesh and 1,082 in Telangana.
It has risen to 1,102 in Punjab, 963 in West Bengal, 642 in Karnataka, 517 in Bihar and 500 in Kerala.
Haryana has reported 442 coronavirus cases, while Odisha has 163 cases.
A total of 115 people have been infected with the virus in Jharkhand and 94 in Chandigarh, the data said.
Uttarakhand has reported 60 cases, Chhattisgarh has 57 cases, Assam has 43, Ladakh has 41 while Himachal Pradesh has registered 40 cases so far.
Thirty-three COVID-19 cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Tripura has registered 16 cases, Meghalaya 12, Puducherry eight, while Goa has seven COVID-19 cases.
Manipur has two cases. Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have reported a case each.
“Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR,” the ministry said on its website.
State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said.
Meanwhile, two floors of the Border Security Force headquarters in Delhi have been sealed after a staff member was tested positive for COVID-19, officials said today.
The eight-storeyed BSF head office is located in the CGOs complex on Lodhi road that also houses the CRPF headquarters, which was placed under similar sealing on Sunday after two staffers tested positive.
“A head constable of the BSF working in the force headquarters has been found COVID-19 positive late night on May 3. He last attended office on May 1,” a BSF spokesperson said.
“He was working in an office on the 2nd floor. Offices on first and second floors of the headquarters have been closed as a precaution,” he said.
All those who came in his contact have been identified and quarantined. They will also be tested for Coronavirus, he added.
The BSF head office houses the office of its Director General (DG) and other senior commanders apart from its operational and administrative wings.
Prior to the detection of the case, the spokesperson said the headquarters was closed early by 4 pm on Friday as a special precautionary measure.
Officials said this was done as the head constable had then exhibited some illness symptoms and he was immediately sent for medical care.
All attending staff vacated offices and the entire office complex was thoroughly sanitised with prescribed disinfectants, the spokesperson said.
The head office was closed on Saturday and Sunday and “no staff other than the security personnel and the control room members in limited numbers worked in the headquarters”, he said.
“The disinfection of complete Block 10 of the CGO complex (where BSF force headquarters is located) will be done again in the afternoon today in light of the latest COVID-19 positive case.
“Identification of secondary and tertiary contacts as per the protocol is being carried out and all protocols are being followed,” the spokesperson said.
A total of 54 troops of the border guarding force have been detected with the disease till now, the maximum 31 from a unit that performed law and order duties in Jama Masjid and Chandni Mahal areas of Delhi.
The 2.5-lakh-personnel-strong BSF is primarily tasked with guarding the Indian borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh, apart from rendering a variety of duties in the country’s internal security domain. (PTI)