We have to learn to live with coronavirus, says Health Ministry official

One in every three persons infected with COVID-19 has recovered from the disease and Indians will now have to learn to live with the virus, a senior health ministry official said here on Friday.

India continued to witness a sharp increase in confirmed cases of COVID-19 as 3,390 fresh infections were reported till Friday morning, taking the total infections to 56,342. The death toll also spiked by 103 to 1,886. According to the DH COVID-19 tracker, the total confirmed cases had shot up through the day to 57,910, while the death toll was 1,929 at 8:15 p.m. on Friday.

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“We have to learn to live with the virus,” Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry said, urging people to make COVID-19 prevention guidelines a part of their lives as a behavioural change.

He was responding to questions about the possibility of a spike in the case due to easing in lockdown restrictions and return of migrant workers to their respective states.

“Till now, 16,540 patients have been recovered and 37,916 patients are under active medical supervision,” Agarwal said adding that the recovery rate was now at 29.36%. He said 1,273 persons had recovered from the disease in the 24 hours ending 8:00 a.m. on Friday.

Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths on May 8

Agarwal said of the 37,916 active patients, 3.2% were on oxygen support, 4.7 % in ICU (intensive care unit) support and 1.1% of patients on ventilator support.

Agarwal said despite the surge in cases, there were 216 districts which had not reported COVID-19 cases till date, 42 districts have had no fresh cases in the last 28 days, 29 districts with no fresh cases in the last 21 days, 36 districts with no fresh cases in the last 14 days and 46 districts with no fresh cases in the last seven days.

The health ministry on May 1 classified 733 districts in the country as 130 in the red zone, 284 in the orange zone and 319 in the green zone, taking into consideration incidence of cases of COVID-19, doubling rate, the extent of testing and surveillance feedback.

Agarwal said the districts would be re-classified in a day or two based on the feedback from the states.