33 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, COVID-19 cases increase by 678: Joint Secy, Health Ministry

A surge of 678 positive COVID-19 cases was witnessed in the country in the last 24 hours, according to Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry, on Friday.

"With a jump of 678 cases, the number of COVID-19 patients reached 6,412 and 199 deaths, in total, have been reported, out of which 33, occurred in the last single day," Aggarwal said at a press conference here.

Speaking about the steps being taken to ensure the supply of Personal Protection Equipments (PPEs) for the frontline workers, the Joint Secretary said, "There are 39 manufacturers of PPE in the country today and we have doubled state-level availability of PPEs. In the last 2 months, we have provided an additional 20 lakh masks to states, 49,000 ventilators are being purchased."

"There will also be no shortage of N95 masks in the coming days. We want to assure the frontline workers that the government is taking all the required action which are needed," he added.

Aggarwal further said that the Health Ministry has issued a set of guidelines for blood banks for the precautions needed to be taken while conducting transfusions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Assuring that enough stocks of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) are available in the country, Aggarwal said that close to 1 crore tablets would be needed in the country in the coming week, while 3.28 crore doses were available in the country.

"3.28 crore tablets are enough for our projected month-end requirements. Apart from this, tie-ups for 2-3 crore additional supplies have been done. Domestic production (of the drug) has been 100 percent ensured not just for today but for the upcoming days as well. 2 crore tablets have also been sent for state-level distribution by private companies," he said.

Upon the topic of testing for COVID-19 disease, the Joint Secretary further said, "From 1 lab in January, 146 testing labs are functional in the public sector today. 67 private labs too are there, for which there are more than 16,000 collection centres."

Punya Salila Srivastava, Joint Secretary, MHA and Dammu Ravi, AS and Coordinator [COVID-19], MEA, were also present at the press briefing.