The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has confirmed, so far, a total of 11,706 people have been cured. This takes our total recovery rate to 27.52%. The total number of confirmed cases is now 42,533. Since yesterday, an increase of 2,553 has been noted in the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in India. Outcome ratio (Recovered vs. Death) for all closed cases, which indicates the clinical management status in the hospitals shows that there is an improvement in the country compared to that prior to 17th April, 2020 (Outcome ratio was 80:20) while as of today it is 90:10.

As many as twenty (20) Central Public Health Teams from the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare have been formed and are being sent to the 20 districts that are reporting the maximum number of COVID-19 cases in the country.

Government of India will be facilitating the return of Indian nationals stranded abroad on compelling grounds in a phased manner. The travel would be arranged by aircraft and naval ships. The SOP has been prepared in this regard.Indian Embassies and High Commissions are preparing a list of distressed Indian citizens. This facility would be made available on payment-basis. Non-scheduled commercial flights would be arranged for air travel. The travel would begin in a phased manner from May 7.Medical screening of passengers would be done before taking the flight. Only asymptomatic passengers would be allowed to travel.

While talking about the present situation in the country the Union Minister added “During the difficult times of COVID-19 we are able to manage the critical supply of blood to the needy patients. He said he called the meeting of Red Cross officials to mobilise voluntary blood donation and helped them by arranging 30,000 passes for Red Cross Society workers and their vehicles engaged in promoting voluntary blood donation.”

Expressing the concern of high fatality rate due to COVID-19, Dr. Harsh Vardhan stated, “It is painful to know that in few districts the fatality rate is higher than the national average”. He exhorted that State also needs to focus on the non-affected districts by conducting search, surveillance and testing of SARI / Influenza Like Illness cases, as this may avoid the further spreading of cases in other areas.He advised that State needs to ensure that non-COVID-19 services are not hampered due to emphasis on COVID-19 management.