There are at least 606 confirmed coronavirus cases in India as of yesterday, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Ministry said.
Of this, 553 are active cases, 42 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospital and 10 have died. The active cases include 563 Indian nationals and 43 foreigners, the ministry said.
Addressing a press conference, Health Secreatry Lav Agarwal said: “There are 29 private laboratory chains, accredited by the Indian Council of Medical Research for conducting tests for novel coronavirus. These labs have 16,000 collection centres across the country, where at least 12,000 tests can be conducted per day.”
Agarwal also said that the private labs will have to follow ICMR norms while testing for Covid-19.
Besides private labs, there are 119 government laboratories approved by the ICMR, of which 104 are operational for testing Covid-19 and 15 are in the process of being functional.
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said five new cases of coronavirus infection had been reported in the national capital in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 35.
Tamil Nadu also reported five new positive cases yesterday, taking the total number of such patients in the southern state to 23.
With three new positive cases in Gujarat, the total count of Covid-19 patients in the state has surged to 38.
In Maharashtra, five more positive cases were detected overnight taking the total to 116.
On the brighter side, 14 coronavirus positive patients had been cured and would be sent home soon, officials said.
Madhya Pradesh also reported five new cases taking the total number up to 14.
Deaths have been reported from Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab and West Bengal.
Meanwhile, all primary and secondary contacts of home quarantined people in Karnataka will be stamped to avert community transmission, a top official said.
“To check the coronavirus pandemic from reaching the community transmission stage, the government has decided to stamp all primary and secondary contacts of those already stamped and under isolation,” Bengaluru Municipal Commissioner B H Anil Kumar tweeted.
Kumar said all the primary and secondary contacts will also be home quarantined. He shared a link listing all the home quarantined people across the state, without giving their names.