Indore reports lone single-day Covid-19 case, a first in 16 months, says health official

Indore in Madhya Pradesh reported only one case of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the past 24 hours, for the first time in 16 months, nodal officer for Covid-19 Dr Amit Malakar said on Friday. He mentioned that close to 9,000 samples were tested for the viral infection of which only one turned out to be positive.

“In the past 24 hours, we have tested 8,923 samples and among them only one was found positive for the infection,” news agency PTI quoted Dr Malakar as saying earlier on Friday. He further noted that Indore, which was previously one of the worst-affected districts due to the pandemic, has recorded only one case in the 24-hour span for the first time in 16 months.

Dr Malakar attributed the decline in the number of cases to the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination drive in the district and also the weakening of the impact of the second wave of infections, PTI reported. However, he also asked the people to not lower their guard against the disease in the face of the looming threat of a third wave.

The number of daily new infections in Madhya Pradesh has gradually declined over the past few days and previously on Thursday, 20 more people tested positive for the disease in the state. This took the total confirmed cases to 791,614 so far. As many as 10,510 people have lost their lives to the disease after two new fatalities were reported on Thursday, a bulletin from the state health department showed.

Meanwhile, state home minister Narottam Mishra earlier in the day said that around 21 new cases of Covid-19 have been detected in the state on Friday. “We are conducting more than 70,000 tests each day. Around 21 new cases have been reported in the state today. The recovery rate in the state is 98.8%” news agency ANI quoted Mishra as saying.

According to official data, Indore has so far reported over 150,000 Covid-19 cases and 1,391 fatalities. Currently, the district has 61 active cases of the disease, PTI reported. With 1,292 doses of the vaccine administered to beneficiaries in the district on Thursday, 2,766,144 doses have been administered so far, a bulletin from the state health department on Thursday showed.

(With inputs from agencies)