The violation of lockdown measures poses a serious health hazard. Several states saw the biggest single-day spike in new coronavirus cases on Sunday as the government asks states to abide by lockdown regulations.
Spike in New Cases and Deaths
India reported 1,612 new cases on Sunday with Maharashtra (552), Gujarat (367) and Uttar Pradesh (179). Its the highest increase in a single day of new cases. Consequently, the spike led to a rise in total cases by 10% in a single day. Besides, the death count increased to 688 with Maharashtra recording highest fatalities at 269. Gujarat (103) and Madhya Pradesh (80) have the highest fatality rate in India compared to the number of cases.
Also, cured cases increased to 12.3% of the total, that is, around 2139 patients have been discharged so far. The health officials have accounted for aggressive testing and contact tracing for such a huge rise in numbers.
State-Wise Numbers of new Coronavirus Cases
While Goa became the first state to declare free from coronavirus, Maharashtra the worst affected with 5649 cases. Further, the Odisha government is arming its sarpanch with the powers of a magistrate to fight the pandemic. Also, COVID-19 cases in Gujarat recently jumped to 2407, out of which 1,501 are from Ahmedabad. Haryana’s total count of COVID cases reached 264.
Centre’s Letter to Kerala
Ministry of Home Affairs sent a letter to the Kerala government over its decision of easing the lockdown in certain activities. The letter states that lifting the restrictions on restaurants, transports, and shops is a precise dilution of the Centre’s orders released on April 15 under the Disaster management act.
However, the state government clarified that it was a misunderstanding and they stand with the Centre to fight the pandemic. Also, citing the complete violation of social distancing and violence against frontline health workers in some states, the Centre issued letters to states mentioning the strict adherence to the lockdown.
In all, though India has seen an improvement in recovery rate, the state governments must abide by the rule to prevent losing the gains of the lockdown.