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COVID-19 positive cases rise to 18,601 in India; death toll at 590

Sentinel Digital Desk

NEW DELHI: On Tuesday, India registered 18,601 COVID positive cases and 590 deaths. Meanwhile, with one more COVID case reported in Meghalaya, the number of cases in the north-eastern region rose to 49.

In Shillong, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma tweeted that one more positive case was detected late Monday night, taking the State’s total to 11 active cases after one death.

The latest positive case is a 42-year-old woman, who is a family friend of the first COVID-19 patient, a 69-year-old doctor, who died on April 15, two days after he tested positive. The deceased doctor, owner of the private Bethany Hospital in Shillong, had no travel history except that his son-in-law, who is an Air India pilot, had been to COVID-19-infected countries and had returned home on March 22.

Citing the increased period of the case doubling rate, the ICMR on Tuesday said that the current situation indicates that significant increase in the number of coronavirus cases is unlikely.

Responding to a query at the daily briefing, Dr. Raman Gangakhedkar, head of infectious disease and epidemiology at ICMR, said: “The doubling time of cases is increasing, the current situation indicates that significant increase in number of COVID-19 cases is unlikely.” With 705 people recovering on Monday, the recovery percentage was 17.48%, said the Health Ministry. (IANS)