979 confirmed COVID-19 cases & 25 deaths so far: Joint Secretary, Health, Lav Agarwal

NEW DELHI: “There are 979 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 25 deaths so far in the country. 106 new positive cases and six deaths have been reported In the last 24 hours,” said Joint Secretary, Health, Lav Agarwal.

There are at least 931 Indian nationals and 48 foreign nationals who have been affected by the disease.

ICMR’s Dr. Raman Gangakhedkar, who was also present at the press conference told media that there were a good number of tests of COVID-19 happening in the country. “Our infrastructure is spread across the country, I don’t think we are testing less. We have conducted 34,931 tests till today. Capacity utilization in the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) network is around 30 per cent. We have increased some number of labs also. Now, 113 government labs have been made functional and 47 private labs have been given approval to conduct the COVID-19 tests.”

Agarwal also said that the government is up front for handling behavioural issues arose due to the current situation of coronavirus and lockdown.

“We have involved India’s top behavioural institute in Bengaluru, the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS) to deal with the matter. People can call on tollfree number 08046110007 in case they feel some mental issues,” he said. (IANS)

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