India crosses a tally of over 50,000 positive cases, Government prepares Railway coaches as COVID-19 centers

Last updated on February 13th, 2023 at 04:16 pm

Consecutively for second day India recorded highest number of positive cases of Corona virus. The tally is now well above 50,000 with 1,700 deceased cases. India is now at 15th position among countries with maximum positive cases recorded against the COVID-19 virus.

Anticipating further rise in the cases in coming days, Government on Wednesday indicated that it is now preparing for more COVID care centers with getting the railway coaches ready for same. These coaches are reportedly being deployed at 215 stations.

The Ministry of Health Affairs (MHA) reported that the total number of positive cases in India as of this morning had reached 53,000 with 35,934 active cases. The recovered tally is at 15,330 and 1,787 deceased.

In March, the Railways had stated that if required it would offer the coaches as needed. But in the light of regular spike in new virus cases in past days, a detailed guideline was publicised by the Ministry of Health. These guidelines explain in detail how the coaches are being planned for use as COVID care centers.

The Ministry explained that these compartments would be used to house patients with mild symptoms. Ideally there should be one patient per coach, but if need be it can house up to two patients.

Among the positive cases, Maharashtra is in the lead with a staggering 16,758 cases, while Gujarat is at second number with a considerable gap at 6,625 confirmed cases.

Health Ministry explained that the rapid rise in number of positive and deceased cases was due to some states reclassifying few deaths as due to COVID-19. It was further stated that West Bengal had stopped keeping a count of COVID-19 casualties for some weeks who had co-morbidities like heart ailments, diabetes etc.

Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan had a meeting with top ministers in Maharashtra and Gujarat to discuss the states’ preparedness against virus in coming days. MHA urged that people need to download Aarogya Setu app for a better mass reach. Through this app people can be able to identify any active cases in their vicinity and take precautions accordingly.

The states were asked to ensure screening for patients with influenza-like symptoms and Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) to identify hot spots in a more efficient way.

India is facing a constant rise in positive cases with lockdown 3.0 in action. Coming days are going to be scrutinized for the nation’s fight against the corona virus and ability to flatten the curve.

Read: Coronavirus: India shoots up unemployment rate to 27.11%, leaving 121.5M jobless