India Suspends Int’l Flights til Year End as Covid Cases Surge Near 10 Million!

India’s COVID-19 tally reached 9,431,691 on Monday as 38,772 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours, according to the latest data from the health ministry.

According to the data, the death toll mounted to 137,139 as 443 patients died since Sunday morning. There are still 446,952 active cases in the country, while 8,847,600 people have been discharged from hospitals, added the ministry’s latest data.

 

Over the past few days, the national capital Delhi has been witnessing a sudden spike in COVID-19 cases. In the past 24 hours, 4,906 new cases and 68 deaths were recorded, as 6,325 people recovered from the pandemic in Delhi, said the data released by the local health department.

The Delhi government has decided not to reopen schools till a vaccine is available to ensure the safety of the students.

 

Meanwhile, the federal government’s focus has been on ramping up COVID-19 testing facilities across the country. Till Sunday a total of 140,379,976 tests have been conducted, out of which 876,173 tests were conducted on Sunday alone, said the figures released by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Monday.

The country’s Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has decided to continue the suspension of international flights till the year-end.

 

Last week Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting with chief ministers of all states via video-conferencing to review the status and preparedness of COVID-19 response and management, with a special emphasis on eight high-focus states.

The high-focus states were Haryana, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat and West Bengal.

 

Source: Xinhua