Coronavirus: Virus not less potent, WHO says after Italian doctor claim

A day after overtaking Germany, India went past France in total count of Covid-19 cases on Monday, rising to the seventh spot in the list of countries with highest caseloads of the virus. On the first day of India’s unlocking phase, the number of fresh infections dipped slightly to 7,573, while the death toll remained above 200 for the fourth straight day. India had recorded 1,92,630 Covid-19 cases till late on Monday, going past France’s count of 1,88,882 infections till now.

With a larger proportion of Covid-19 patients getting cured, the case fatality rate, or the percentage of deaths of the total cases, has declined steadily to 2.83% from 3.3% around 45 days ago, even as the health ministry recorded the biggest single-day spike so far with 230 new deaths and 8,392 fresh cases till 8am on Monday. Read full story

Odisha registered its highest single-day spike of Covid-19 cases on Monday with 156 new infections, taking the state's tally to 2,104, a health department official said. As many as 119 patients also recovered from the disease during the day, the highest in a single day in the state. Of the total 2,104 cases, 1,245 patients have recovered so far. With fresh cases and recoveries, the number of active cases dipped to 850 from 969, the official said.

The World Health Organization stressed Monday that the new coronavirus has not suddenly become less pathogenic, following claims by a leading Italian doctor that Covid-19 had lost some of its potency. "That is not the case at all," WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told a virtual press briefing. The claims by Alberto Zangrillo sparked a furore on Monday, with the Italian government urging caution. "In reality, the virus clinically no longer exists in Italy," said Zangrillo, head of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, the capital of the northern Lombardy region, which has been the worst-hit by the pandemic. "The swabs performed over the past 10 days have showed a viral load that is absolutely infinitesimal in quantitative terms compared to those carried out a month or two months ago," he told RAI television on Sunday. That prompted cries of disbelief from other experts, who said Zangrillo may have mistaken a higher detection rate of asymptomatic cases for diminished potency of the virus.

A total of 685 Indian nationals stranded in Sri Lanka due to the Covid-19 linked international travel restrictions were evacuated on Monday from the island nation onboard an Indian Navy warship. INS Jalashwa, carrying 685 people, including 125 women and seven children, started sailing back home from Colombo port in Sri Lanka on Monday night, Defence sources said here. The ship is expected to arrive in Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu before noon on Tuesday, they said. Participating in the third phase of Navy's mission to bring back Indian citizens stranded abroad, it had reached Colomboon Monday morning. The Indian Navy under its ambitious "Operation Samudra Setu" programme had safely repatriated nearly 1,500 Indian nationals from the Maldives in first two phases in its two vessels--INS Jalashwa and INS Magar on May 10, May 12 and May 17.

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