India's COVID count reaches 112,359 as death toll rises to 3,435 with 45,300 recoveries

As India battles with the COVID-19 pandemic, the death toll due to Coronavirus has risen to 3,435 and the number of cases climbed to 112,359 in the country, with an increase of 5,609‬ cases in the last 24 hours. The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 63,624 while 45,300 people have been cured and discharged, and one patient migrated, as per the latest numbers from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Read: ICMR Revises Guidelines; TB Testing Machines Will Now Be Used For Confirming COVID Cases

ICMR Revises Guidelines

In a bid to ramp up the testing capacity, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has issued revised guidelines for TrueNat testing and said that it is now a comprehensive assay for screening and confirmation of COVID-19 cases. Earlier on April 10, the ICMR had approved the use of TrueNat system for conducting coronavirus tests but recommended it only as a screening test.

In its revised guidelines, the apex health body has said:  "TrueNat system is now a comprehensive assay for screening and confirmation of COVID-19 cases". According to the guidelines, all samples of suspect COVID-19 should be first tested by the E gene screening assay. All negatives are to be considered as true negatives. All positive samples should be subjected to confirmation by another step.

Read: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan To Take Charge As Next WHO Executive Board Chairman

MHA guidelines for lockdown 4.0

As per MHA guidelines for the extended lockdown till May 31, all domestic & international air travel, metros, educational institutions, hotels, cinema halls, malls, gyms, swimming pools, places of worship, social/political/sport/entertainment/ cultural/religious events will remain prohibited. On the other hand, sports complexes and stadia are allowed to open without spectators. Moreover, inter-state movement of passenger vehicles and buses will be allowed on mutual consent and intra-state movement of vehicles can be allowed as per the state government's decision.

Furthermore, the MHA has allowed states to decide on red, orange and green zones and allowed district authorities to demarcate containment and buffer zones in red and orange zones. The MHA has also allowed essential activities in containment zones but barred movement of people in and out of the zone.

Apart from the above-mentioned prohibitions, all other activities will be mentioned, states the MHA, with an additional night curfew from 7 PM to 7 AM. States and UTs can prohibit any other activities as deemed necessary. Apart from these guidelines, MHA has amended mandatory 'Aarogya Setu' installation to asking employers to install the app on a 'best effort basis' by its employees.

Read: ICMR Begins Study To Gauge Prevalence Of COVID-19 Among Communities; WHO Extends Support

Read: Coronavirus-themed Robot Sanitiser Enters Chennai's Corona-battle On Covid-theme Rickshaw