Centre Wants States to Renew Attention to Rising Covid-19 Infections
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 6: The union government has asked seven states including the national capital state of Delhi to take additional precautions amidst a marginal rise in the number of Coronavirus cases in the past one week.
Though the number of new cases showed a marginal decline on Saturday compared to the numbers on Friday, the government has noted that week-wise there had been an increase in both the number of cases registered and the positivity rate in the current week compared to the previous week.
In view of the considerable laxity prevailing in most parts of the country in wearing masks, the centre has also asked the states for renewed attention to Covid-appropriate behaviour, particularly in the over-crowded places like market complexes, inter-state bus stands, railway stations, other public transport systems, and schools and colleges.
Amid the rise in coronavirus infections in some parts of the country, the central government has asked Delhi and six states to ensure adequate testing, promote Covid-appropriate behaviour and increase the pace of vaccination to contain the surge.
In a letter to Delhi, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said upcoming festivals and mass congregations in different parts of the country may potentially facilitate transmission of infectious diseases, including COVID-19.
It is critical to ensure adequate testing is undertaken in all the districts of the state while maintaining the recommended share of RT-PCR and antigen tests. The state must also closely monitor districts reporting higher cases, positivity rates and clusters to prevent further spread of infection and effective case management, he stressed.
In his letter to Delhi, Bhushan pointed out that the national capital has been reporting high average daily new cases (811 cases) for the past month with a high of 2.202 new cases reported on August 5.
Delhi has contributed 8.2 per cent of India’s weekly new cases in the week ending August 5 and has also recorded 1.86 times increase in average daily new cases from 802 in the week ending July 29 to 1,492 in in the week ending August 5.
An increase in the weekly positivity rate was also reported in Delhi — from 5.90 per cent in the week ending July 29 to 9.86 per cent in the week ending August 5. Bhushan said Kerala reported 2,347 average cases per day in the past month and Maharashtra 2,135 cases. He also cited district-wise spread of infection.
He requested states to ensure effective compliance of the revised surveillance strategy for COVID-19 which has been shared by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Bhushan cautioned that in view of some changes in symptoms and clinical manifestation of the disease, it was crucial to monitor and report district-wise influenza-like illness (ILI) and SARI cases in all health facilities as per the guidelines, on a regular basis for detecting early warning signals of the spread of infection. “This will enable us to take pre-emptive action if required, in any areas of concern,” he said.
Stressing genome sequencing of prescribed samples of international passengers as well as collection of samples from sentinel sites and local cluster of new COVID-19 cases was equally important, Bhushan said such samples must be sent promptly by the states and union territories to the designated lab of INSACOG network for genome sequencing.
“Renewed attention needs to be paid for ensuring of Covid-appropriate behaviour in crowded places like markets, inter-state bus stands, schools, colleges, railway stations, etc,” he said.
“States should aim to increase the pace of vaccination for all eligible population and accelerate the administration of free precaution doses for 18-plus eligible population at all Government Covid Vaccination Centres (CVCs) under the ‘COVID Vaccination Amrit Mahotsav’ till September 30,” he stated.
India on Saturday recorded 19,406 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day compared to 20,551 reported on Friday. India’s tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 4,41,26,994, while active cases declined to 1,34,793, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday. .
The death count has climbed to 5,26,649 with 49 new fatalities, including 11 deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated. On Friday, 70 deaths were reported. These included 26 deaths reconciled by Kerala. The Health Ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.
The active cases comprise 0.31 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.50 per cent, the ministry said. A decrease of 571 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in 24 hours.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 4.96 per cent and the weekly positivity rate was 4.63 per cent, it said. The number of recoveries surged to 4,34,65,552, while the case fatality rate 1.19 per cent.
Among the fatalities, five each were reported from Maharashtra and West Bengal, three from Chhattisgarh, two each from Delhi, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Tripura, and one each from Haryana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
Additionally, 11 deaths have been reconciled by Kerala as per Indian Council of Medical Research guidelines. Of the 5,26,649 deaths reported so far, 1,48,129 are from Maharashtra, 70,548 from Kerala, 40,155 from Karnataka, 38,033 from Tamil Nadu, 26,327 from Delhi, 23,574 from Uttar Pradesh and 21,389 from West Bengal. “Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR),” the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.
According to the ministry, 205.92 crore doses against Covid have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.
