India reports 4529 deaths, highest so far; new cases down in 200 districts

NEW DELHI: India reported 4529 deaths on Tuesday, the highest so far in a day. Maharashtra reported over 1,300 deaths, nearly half of which were more than a week old. Karnataka reported 525 deaths, while Tamil Nadu added 364 to the toll. Over 2.67 lakh fresh cases were reported in the country. While Tamil Nadu recorded more than 33,000 cases, Karnataka and Kerala both reported over 30,000 cases. Maharashtra, which was leading the list for months reported the country’s fourth highest case count with 28,438 new infections. The active cases in the country dropped further to 32.26 lakh.

The government on Tuesday said that around 200 districts have been reporting a decline in cases for the last two weeks and, after consistently increasing for the past 13 weeks, the country’s overall case positivity has registered a decline over the past seven days. The “pandemic curve is stabilising”, and the reproduction number (R) has now fallen below 1, Dr V K Paul, head of India’s Covid-19 Task Force, said. “This means the pandemic is shrinking overall,” he said.

Meanwhile, even as the rest of Maharashtra is showing a downward trend, there is a rise in infections in the Amravati district. Amravati was one of the first districts in Maharashtra to report the second wave in February this year. Following a 10-day lockdown in March, it noted a dip in cases. But state data shows it has again seen a rise in average daily cases by 148 per cent from April 9-15, when 426 new cases were recorded daily, to May 8-14 when 1,060 daily new cases were reported.

On the other hand, in Kerala which is likely past the peak of the second wave, the state’s local self-governing bodies have joined hands with neighbourhood groups and youth organisations, cutting across party lines to control the pandemic. They supply food, pulse oximeters, PPE kits, cots and vehicles — all free of cost — and even have volunteers to help with the final rites of those who have succumbed to the pandemic. For the hard-pressed state government, officials say, the active support of local bodies has come as a big boost.