Coronavirus update: 36 new Covid-19 cases take Rajasthan tally to 2000

Rajasthan had reported 1000 cases on April 14, taking the Covid-19 tally to 1005, after seeing 520 infections on April 10. It breached the 2000-mark in 10 days but experts say the doubling rate is slowing down, which indicates a flattening of the curve.

Rajasthan on Friday morning reported 2000 cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) with 36 new infections, including 13 from Jaipur, even as experts said the doubling rate had slowed down in the state.

People buy essentials standing behind police barricades during lockdown -- to curb spread of coronavirus, at walled city in Jaipur, Rajasthan. (Himanshu Vyas/HT Photo)

However, the desert state is on the fourth spot in terms of the number of coronavirus disease cases in the country after Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi.

Six districts with more than 100 Covid-19 cases continue to concern and challenge officials of the state health department as they have been classified as hotspots. These are Jaipur with 753 cases, Jodhpur with 310, Kota with 140, Tonk with 115, Bharatpur with 107 and Ajmer with 106 cases.

Rajasthan had reported 1000 cases on April 14, taking the Covid-19 tally to 1005, after seeing 520 infections on April 10. It breached the 2000-mark in 10 days but experts say the doubling rate is slowing down, which indicates a flattening of the curve.

Out of the 36 new cases, 18 came from Kota, 13 from Jaipur, four from Jhalawar and one from Bharatpur. A person died in the state capital of Jaipur taking the number of fatalities due to Covid-19 to 29 in the state, according to the morning bulletin by the health department.

Rohit Kumar Singh, the additional chief secretary with the state’s health department, said the rate of increase in the number of infected has slowed in the state after April 14.

Singh said if the Covid-19 cases had increased according to the infection rate in the first phase of the lockdown period then the number of cases would have been 2834. But due to stringent measures taken by the state government, the number of coronavirus disease cases is 2000, he said.

The health department and health minister Raghu Sharma have insisted that testing in Rajasthan is being done aggressively and that is the reason the high numbers are being reported.

Singh said Rajasthan is among the top states as far as testing is concerned. He said the state is second after Maharashtra in terms of the number of tests done. As of April 24, the state has carried out 69,764 tests.

Simultaneously, Singh said, Rajasthan also has one of the lowest mortality rates in the country. The state has a mortality rate of 1.43% with 29 deaths reported so far.

Dr Virendra Singh, a member of the Covid-19 advisory board formed by chief minister Ashok Gehlot, said this is a good sign.

“If the doubling time is more than seven days then we can say it is an initiation of flattening of the curve. So, we can hope that this trend will continue,” said Dr Singh.

However, the pulmonologist and former medical superintendent of SMS Hospital emphasised that people should try to avoid going out and follow social distancing and cover their mouth and nose with masks.