Govt Earmarks 602 Hospitals As Dedicated COVID-19 Facilities As Cases Soar Past 10,000 Mark

The Health Ministry said 1,211 fresh coronavirus cases and 31 new deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours.

Updated on: 14 April 2020 6:10 pm

A total of 602 hospitals have been earmarked as dedicated COVID-19 facilities in coordination with states with a capacity of 1,06,719 isolation beds and 12,024 ICU beds reserved for such patients in the country, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

Addressing the daily briefing, Lav Agarwal, the joint secretary in the Ministry of Health, said 1,211 fresh coronavirus cases and 31 new deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours, taking the number of cases to 10,363 and deaths to 339 in the country.

According to an ICMR official, 2.31 lakh tests have been conducted so far for COVID-19.

"We have tested 2.31 lakh samples, so far, including 21,635 samples yesterday. Out of these 18,644 were done in ICMR network of labs. We have enough kits to cover for a very long time," a senior ICMR official said.

The Health Ministry officials said that to break the virus chain in a particular area, not a single case should be reported from there for at least 28 days.

"If no case is reported for 28 days from a particular area, we can say that we have been able to break the chain of transmission there," the officials said.

The government officials said that to ensure the weaker section of the society continues to get basic amenities and is not impacted during the lockdown period, the swift implementation of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package is being monitored at the highest level.

The officials also said that as of April 13, financial support of Rs 29,352 crore has been provided to more than 32 crore poor people through DBT under the package, adding that free ration and food grains have been distributed to 5.29 crore beneficiaries under Garib Kalyan Yojna.

Also, 3,985 MT of pulses have been dispatched to various states and union territories for distribution, and more than 97 lakh free gas cylinders have been delivered to beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujwala Yojna (PMUY), they said.

They added Rs 14,946 crore has been transferred to 7.47 crore farmers towards the first instalment of PM Kisan scheme and Rs 9,930 crore has been disbursed to 19.86 crore women Jan Dhan account holders through DBT.