NEW DELHI: India’s COVID-19 cases rose by 896 since Thursday evening—the highest single-day spike so far—taking the total number of active cases in the country to 6,039, the Union health ministry said on Friday. With 37 deaths, the total toll has climbed to 206.
According to the Maharashtra health department, the state recorded 210 positive cases on Friday, taking its total count to 1,364. In Delhi, 183 new cases and two deaths were reported. With the number of positive cases rising, the Union government on Friday assured the nation that India has enough stock of hydroxychloroquine tablets to meet the domestic demand for treating the infection.
“Based on our projected requirement, we need one crore tablets of hydroxychloroquine for the coming one week. We have 3.28 crore tablets with us today. So, we have more than three times supply relative to the domestic requirement,” Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Lav Agarwal said, adding the stock is sufficient to meet India’s needs till the end of April. He added that the decision to export some surplus tablets has been taken only after reviewing domestic needs.
“Domestic requirement and production of hydroxychloroquine have been 100% ensured, not even for today, but for the coming times as well,” Lav Agarwal added.
Meanwhile, following a meeting with state health ministers, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan said that the global experience so far suggests that it takes 5 to 6 weeks to flatten the curve of COVID-19.“Therefore, people should not lose patience,” he said while urging state governments to ensure that the lockdown measures are fully enforced.