No new COVID-19 case in 25 districts for 14 days: Centre

At least 25 districts across 15 states did not report any fresh COVID-19 case over the past two weeks, even as the total number of patients with the respiratory illness surged to 9,352 on Monday.

The number of new patients increased by 996 since Sunday, while the death toll rose by 51 to touch 324, the Health Ministry said adding that 979 people have recovered from disease so far and discharged from the hospitals.

The Centre said that its policy of social distancing and strict implementation of the lockdown was paying dividends as 25 districts across 15 states, including Davangere, Kodagu, Tumakuru and Udupi in Karnataka have not reported a single new patient in the past 14 days.

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The Centre attributed the success in arresting the spread of the disease in these 25 districts to the aggressive containment strategies followed by the respective administrations.

Besides the four districts in Karnataka, Gondia in Maharashtra, Rajnandgaon, Durg, Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh), South Goa, Wayanad and Kottayam (Kerala), West Imphal (Manipur), Rajouri (J&K), Aizawl West (Mizoram), Mahe (Puducherry), SBS Nagar (Punjab), Patna, Nalanda and Munger (Bihar), Pratapgarh (Rajasthan), Panipat, Rohtak and Sirsa (Haryana), Pauri Garhwal (Uttrakhand), and Bhadradri Kothagudem (Telangana) have not reported new Covid-19 cases for the past 14 days.

Several states have been harnessing their ‘Smart City’ project infrastructure to track patients, implementation of containment plans and using heat mapping technologies in the fight against the disease.

Maharashtra is the worst affected state with 1985 cases, followed by Delhi (1154), Tamil Nadu (1075), Rajasthan (812) and Madhya Pradesh (604).

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) allayed apprehensions about inadequate testing kits, saying it had enough stocks to last for six weeks and more were on way.

“Till Sunday we had conducted 2,06,212 Covid-19 tests. There is no need to worry. We have enough stock to conduct tests for six weeks,” Raman Gangakhedkar, Head of the Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases Division of ICMR, told reporters.

He said the test kits ordered from China were expected to reach India on April 15.