Union Minister for Textiles and Women & Child Development Smriti Irani took to Twitter on Wednesday and announced that she has tested positive for COVID-19. She also requested those who came in her contact to get themselves tested at the earliest.
"It is rare for me to search for words while making an announcement; hence here’s me keeping it simple — I’ve tested positive for #COVID and would request those who came in contact with me to get themselves tested at the earliest," she wrote.
Meanwhile, the new coronavirus cases reported in the last 24 hours remained below 45,000, even as the total COVID-19 caseload inched closer to 80 lakh, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday.
The country's COVID-19 caseload mounted to 79,90,322 with 43,893 fresh cases being reported in a day, while the death toll climbed to 1,20,010 with 508 new fatalities, the ministry data updated at 8 AM on Wednesday showed.
A total of 72,59,509 people have recuperated from COVID-19 so far, pushing the national recovery rate to 90.85 per cent, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.50 per cent. The active cases of coronavirus infections remained below 7 lakh for six days in a row, it said.
There are 6,10,803 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country as on date, which comprises 7.64 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23 and 40 lakh on September 5. It went past 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28 and crossed 70 lakh on October 11.
According to ICMR, a cumulative total of 10,54,87,680 samples have been tested up to October 27, with 10,66,786 samples tested on Tuesday.
(With inputs from PTI)
