India has leaped across a significant milestone in its fight against COVID. With recovery of more than 77 lakh people so far, the national recovery rate has reached 92.20 per cent. With overall recovery of nearly 77 lakh 12 thousand patients, the recovered cases in the country stand at nearly 15 times the number of active cases. Over 55 thousand patients recovered and were discharged in the last 24 hours whereas the new confirmed cases reported in the same time span stood at nearly 50 thousand.
The active caseload of the country has also fallen below 6.5 per cent. The total positive cases in the country today stands at five lakh 27 thousand 962 which comprises merely 6.31 per cent of the total reported cases. With a high number of COVID patients recovering every day along with a steadily falling and sustained low mortality rate, India’s trend of registering decreasing active cases continues. The Health Ministry said, the fatality rate which stands at 1.49 per cent. It informed that 704 case fatalities were reported in the past 24 hours of which nearly 75 per cent are concentrated in ten States and Union Territories.
Meanwhile, the country has crossed another milestone in terms of COVID testing. With nearly 12 lakh 10 thousand COVID samples tested in the last 24 hours, the cumulative testing figure has reached over 11 crore 42 lakh mark.
Meanwhile, Health Ministry has issued new guidelines for international arrivals. Before planning for travel, all travelers should submit self-declaration form on the online portal www.newdelhiairport.in at least 72 hours before the scheduled travel or physically after arrival at the respective health counters.
They should also give an undertaking through concerned airlines before they are allowed to undertake the journey that they would abide by the decision of the appropriate government authority to undergo facility or home quarantine or self-monitoring of their health for 14 days. Home quarantine may be permitted for 14 days only for compelling reasons such as pregnancy, death in family, serious illness and parents with children of the age of 10 years or below.
Travellers may also seek exemption from institutional quarantine by submitting a negative RT-PCR test report. This test should have been conducted within 72 hours prior to undertaking the journey. International passengers arriving without an RT-PCR negative certificate and wishing to seek exemption from institutional quarantine may also avail the facility available at the airports to undergo RT-PCR testing. International passengers arriving without RT-PCR negative certificate and not opting for RT PCR test at airport will have to undergo mandatory 7 days’ institutional quarantine and 7 days’ home quarantine.
On arrival, the passengers found to be symptomatic during screening shall be immediately isolated and taken to medical facility as per health protocol. States can have any additional restrictions imposed with regards to quarantine and isolation as per their field assessment post arrival of passengers in the state concerned.