3 more Covid deaths, toll up to 68
New Delhi: India's Covid toll reached 68 on Tuesday with a death each being reported from Delhi, Kerala and Jharkhand. All three victims suffered from co-morbidities.
Significantly, the death in Jharkhand is the first reported from the state in the latest Covid wave.
In Delhi, tests after the death of a 90-year-old woman with co-morbidities that included chronic kidney disease revealed she also had Covid-19. The victim in Jharkhand was a 44-year-old man, while Kerala saw a 79-year-old man with a history of cardiac and stroke issues succumbing to the infection.
In terms of active cases, Kerala continues to be the most affected state, followed by Gujarat, West Bengal and Delhi, according to the health ministry. However, Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of Covid deaths this year.
Official sources maintained that most cases are mild and being managed under home care. However, due to the rising number of infections, directives have been issued to all states to check facility-level preparedness and ensure availability of oxygen, isolation beds, ventilators, and essential medicines.
The sources said on June 4 that state and district surveillance units under Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) are closely monitoring Influenza Like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) cases. "Testing is recommended for all admitted SARI cases and 5 percent of ILI cases as per guidelines and positive SARI samples are being sent for Whole Genome Sequencing through the ICMR VRDL network," they added.
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