One-and-a-half-month-old baby dies of coronavirus in Delhi hospital; COVID-19 cases cross 17,000

A one-and-a-half-month-old baby boy in Delhi has died of coronavirus becoming country’s youngest victim of infection which also affected a 12-day-old infant girl in Bhopal, as COVID-19 cases jumped by over one thousand for sixth straight day on Sunday prompting authorities to scale up rapid antibody based blood tests.

As number of coronavirus infections in country crossed 17,000 with a single highest day increase of 1,712 cases reported in last 24 hours, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said rar than playing catch-up, India must be ahe of curve in post-COVID world.

In a post on LinkedIn titled "Life in era of COVID-19", prime minister also reminded that COVID-19 does t see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, langu or border before striking.

"Our response and conduct reafter should attach primacy to unity and brorhood. We are in this toger," he said.

"Rar than playing catch up, India must be ahe of curve in post-COVID world. Let us think about how our people, our skills sets, our core capabilities can be used in doing so."

countrywide death toll surpassed 500 to touch 565, according to data from states while previous highest 24-hour jump of coronavirus cases (1,463) was reported on Tuesday.

Uttar Presh also became seventh state after Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nu, Mhya Presh, Rajasthan and Gujarat to record over 1,000 COVID-19 infections.

In Maharashtra, re was a big spike in cases to touch 4,200 with a state Health official saying re were 552 new infections in last 24 hours. "Aggressive testing, contact tracing and natural course of progression are reasons behind such a large number of people testing positive for COVID-19,” official said.

Gujarat also reported highest single-day spike of 367 in COVID-19 cases, with Ahmedab alone accounting for 239, a Health department official said. total has w touched 1,743.

In Delhi, officials said a one-and-a-half-month-old baby died of coronavirus at Kalawati Saran Children's Hospital attached to Centre-run Ly Hardinge Medical College.

" baby was brought to hospital a few days ago. He tested positive for COVID-19. child was mitted to SARI (Severe Acute Respiratory Illness) ward and died yesterday," a doctor at hospital said on condition of anymity.

surveillance team has been informed for contact tracing, he ded.

A 12-day-old baby girl tested positive for coronavirus in Bhopal on Sunday, with health officials stating she may be youngest COVID-19 patient in Mhya Presh and possibly country.

infant’s far said it was possible she got infection from a woman health worker who was on duty during birth and tested positive later.

" mor and infant tested positive on Sunday," Bhopal's Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Dr Prabhakar Tiwari told PTI.

Citing Tablighi Jamaat congregation in national capital last month, which emerged as a major coronavirus hotspot, and large inflow of travellers from or countries to Delhi as reasons for spre of virus, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said Delhi was “fighting a difficult battle”.

“Delhi bore brunt of maximum travellers from or countries. Delhi also bore brunt due to an incident in (Tablighi) markaz," he said during a video conference.

Delhi government will t relax lockdown for at least a week as coronavirus spre appears to have gained pace, he said, asserting decision has been taken to save lives.

Citing instances of asymptomatic people testing positive for virus, Kejriwal said out of 736 samples collected recently, 186 were found infected by COVID-19 and people did t kw y were carrying virus.

After a week's hiatus, Tamil Nu reported 100 plus coronavirus cases again on Sunday, pushing total number of affected people to 1,477, and authorities expanded ir testing footprint with rapid test kits imported from China.

As many as 105 tested positive, including two journalists and a Sub Inspector, officials said in Chennai.

dressing daily media briefing, Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary in Union Health ministry said in 56 districts across 23 states and UTs, re has been new COVID-19 case in last 14 days.

Soon after procuring rapid antibody test kits, Delhi government on Sunday began testing people for coronavirus in various containment zones spre across city, officials said.

According to Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, AAP government has acquired 42,000 such kits.

rapid antibody tests were initiated for all containment zones across national capital, officials said.

number of containment zones in Delhi on Saturday h increased to 76, with eight new zones being ded in various areas in one day.

rapid antibody test is less expensive and result can come in 20-30 minutes, experts said.

se tests are generally used in hotspots where infection is found concentrated in a given area.

Kashmir Valley also received first batch of 9,600 rapid test kits.

kits would be used in 83 red zones on a priority basis to help ministration expand testing in se designated areas, an official said.

“We have received first batch of 9,600 rapid testing kits,” Director, Health Services, Kashmir, Dr Samir Mattoo told PTI.

Mattoo said kits were being dispatched to red zones in Valley and it would be distributed to each such containment zone to test for COVID-19 cases.

With Bhubaneswar being identified as one of coronavirus hotspots in country, Odisha government stepped up its measures to fight disease by opting rapid and pool testing methods.

rapid and pool tests will be conducted apart from regular sample tests, said Health and Family Welfare Minister N K Das.

"Rapid tests have started in Bhubaneswar, which reported 46 of total 61 coronavirus cases in Odisha, while efforts are on to commence pool tests of samples at VIMSAR, Burla from Sunday," minister said.

death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 519 and number of cases climbed to 16,116 in country on Sunday, registering an increase of 31 deaths and 1,324 cases since Saturday evening, according to Union Health ministry data.

A total of 2,301 people have recovered, it said.

"Our figures are being reconciled with ICMR," ministry said on its website. On Saturday, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said 16,365 individuals in country have so far been confirmed positive for infection.

According to a PTI tally based on reports from states, re were 17,029 positive cases while 2,621 h recovered and death toll stood at 565.

As per tally, highest number of cases was in Maharashtra(4,200), followed by Delhi(1,893), Gujarat(1,743), Tamil Nu(1,477) Rajasthan(1,431), Mhya Presh(1,407) and Uttar Presh(1,084)

In an indication of ramping up testing, an ICMR official said 37,173 tests were done on Saturday taking to 3,86,791 total number of tests conducted so far.

31 coronavirus deaths reported since Saturday evening include--10 each from Gujarat and Maharashtra, three each from Punjab and Uttar Presh, two from West Bengal and one each from Delhi, Mhya Presh and Karnataka.

Of 519 deaths, Maharashtra tops list with 211 fatalities, followed by Mhya Presh at 70, Gujarat at 58 and Delhi at 43 and Telangana at 18 followed by or states, according to official data.