'India's COVID-19 mortality rate lowest in world' : everything you should know

Dubai: Even as cases in the world's largest democracy cross 40,000, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Sunday said that India's COVID-19 mortality rate of 3.2 per cent is the lowest in the world.

"Today more than 10,000 COVID-19 patients have been discharged. Those still admitted at hospitals are on the road to recovery. If in last 14 days doubling rate was 10.5 days, then today it is around 12 days," the Minister told ANI after visiting Lady Hardinge Hospital.

The deaths recorded have crossed 1,300 as of Sunday. 

Celebrating frontliners

Helicopters showered masked health workers with rose petals and jets roared across the skies as India's military paid tribute to frontline workers battling the coronavirus pandemic.

In one of the first of several gestures on Sunday, petals fell on to the upturned faces of medical personnel clad in protective gear as an army band played patriotic tunes including "Jai Ho" (May victory prevail) from the popular Slumdog Millionaire film.

In several states and territories, fighter jets and transport aircraft in formations took part in low-flying aerial salutes to thank the country's so-called "corona warriors".

"The entire nation stands united in these challenging times," Defence Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted Sunday as he praised the "commendable work" of the "frontline warriors", including police which have been enforcing the nationwide virus lockdown in place since late March.

The navy will light up its ships off the sub-continent's shores when night falls as part of the tributes.

The performances were the third public show of gratitude to health and other frontline workers, after Indians took part in nationwide clapping and lamp lighting efforts led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on previous Sundays.

The lockdown was extended for another two weeks, ending on May 17 by the government on Friday, although some restrictions were lifted in regions that have lower numbers of virus cases.

Expat repatriation still in planning stage

Registrations for stranded citizens have started with Indian missions, From the UAE alone, more than 150,000 people have registered on through the Indian consulate's website. Norka, a platform for non-resident Keralites, also opened registrations, bringing over 390,000 applications from Keralites stranded across the world.

With the country-wide lockdown in place until May 17, the plan, process and dates are still unclear and there are only initial announcements of repatriation plans to the country.

Reports from India said the central government is preparing a mega plan for the evacuation and repatriation of Indians from Gulf countries with Indian Air Force planes and Indian Navy warships being readied along with assistance from commercial airlines like Air India.

Kerala

In view of the extension of the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown by two weeks, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has announced new guidelines to be followed in the state.

According to the new guidelines, Sundays will be a closed day for everything including vehicle movement. Moreover, public transport, public gathering, cinema theatres, religious places, events, malls, liquor shops, bars, barbershops, beauty parlours, gyms and educational institutions will not be allowed to open across the State.

Government offices can function with 50 per cent attendance of group A and B employees and 33 per cent attendance in group C and D category staff. They can also provide non-essential services.

In the Green Zone, shops can be open between 7 am and 7.30 pm for six days of the week and taxi services can operate two passengers. Inter-district travel may be permitted for a maximum of two persons.

As per the norms of having no positive COVID-19 cases in the last 21 days, only Ernakulam district in Kerala has qualified to be in the Green Zone.

Speaking about the containment zones, the Chief Minister said the zone list can change as per the situation and the containment zones within Red Zones would have "full lockdown with no exemptions".

"With a new case being reported on Saturday, the status of Wayanad district has changed from Green Zone to Orange Zone. Wayanad was earlier in the Green Zone list declared by the Centre. With no coronavirus patients under treatment, Alappuzha and Thrissur districts have moved to Green Zone. Kannur and Kottayam are under Red Zone. All the other districts in the State are in Orange Zone," he said.

Meanwhile, two more cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Kerala on Saturday, one each from Wayanad and Kannur districts.

"There are 499 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Kerala and 96 patients are under treatment in different districts in the State," the Chief Minister said.

Hot spots and zones

To contain coronavirus effectively, the government has demarcated the country into three zones -- red, orange and green. There are more coronavirus cases in western region than the eastern region.

There are more red zones in prosperous states, like Maharashtra, than states considerably less advanced, like Bihar and Odisha. The number of cases in metros, like Mumbai and Delhi, is more than smaller cities in the eastern region.

In Maharashtra, there are 14 red, 16 orange and 6 green zones. In Bihar, there are 5 red, 20 orange and 13 green zones. There are 130 red, 284 orange and 319 green zones in the country, according to the letter written by Health Secretary Preeti Sudan to the state secretaries on April 30.

Explaining these zones, the government said the green zones comprised districts with either zero confirmed case or no confirmed case in the last 21 days. The classification of districts as red zones takes into account number of active cases, doubling rate of confirmed cases, extent of testing and surveillance feedback from there. The districts, which are neither defined as red nor green, are classified as orange zones.

As of 8am on May 3, Maharashtra reported 12,296 coronavirus cases and 521 fatalities. Bihar had 481 cases and 4 deaths; and Odisha 157 cases and one death, according to the Health Ministry.

Among the the other western states, Gujarat reported 5,054 cases and 262 deaths, followed by Rajasthan with 2,770 cases and 65 fatalities. In the eastern region, West Bengal reported 922 cases and 3 deaths, and UP 2,487 cases and 43 deaths.

Speaking to IANS, K. Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), said, "The pattern reflects difference in economic development, indicated by the size of the international airports, number of international and domestic flights operating from those airports, foreign-returned travellers arriving and spreading out from there."

"Western India is more urbanised, with greater mobility of people with whom the virus hitch hikes to spread fast. Eastern India has lower foreign returnees to initiate the spread," Reddy said.

According to him, the rural India has less mobility. "This too has protected eastern parts. That's why the more urbanised western countries too have seen a rapid spread. Similar phenomenon in India has occurred," he said.

Dr Manoj Goel, Director (Pulmonology), at Fortis Memorial Research Institute, told IANS attributed this distribution of infection to the population density in different parts of India.

"India is a large country. It's like a subcontinent with over 17 per cent of the world population. So there is likely to be no uniformity in distribution of cases in the different regions," he said.

Stating that the densely populated places in the west are the worst hit, he said, "Dense population makes it difficult for the virus to contain as social distancing can be difficult to manage. The states with large number of immigrants from abroad could also been witnessing more Covid-19 cases."

The government has said the classification of districts into red, green and orange zones will be shared by the MoHFW with states and Union Territories on a weekly basis, or earlier, as required.

While states and UTs can include more districts in the red and orange zones, they may not lower the classification of a district included by the MoHFW.

- Inputs from agencies