Covid-19: India Inching Close to Highest Ever Peak

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Apr 4: As India is inching closer to the highest ever peak figure of 98,000 new cases a day, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday chaired a high-level meeting to review the present Covid-19 situation in the country and discussed a five-fold strategy to curb the spike.

The prime minister also directed that central teams need to visit Maharashtra, Punjab and Chhattisgarh in view of the ongoing surge in the number of new infections and deaths. The Central teams will comprise health specialists and clinicians, official sources said.

A special campaign for Covid-appropriate behaviour with an emphasis on 100 per cent mask usage, personal hygiene and sanitation at public places /workplaces and health facilities will be organised from April 6 to April 14, it has been decided in the meeting.

The high-level meeting comes on a day when India reported 93,249 daily infections in the last 24 hours. As several states are again opting for stricter restrictions to contain the spread of the infection, it was emphasised at Sunday’s meeting that there have been primarily three reasons behind the surge: severe decline in adhering to Covid-19 appropriate behaviour, pandemic fatigue and lack of containment measures.

The 5-fold strategy of testing, tracing, treatment, Covid appropriate behaviour and vaccination, if properly implemented, would be the most effective, it was discussed in the meeting, attended by the principal secretary to PM, cabinet secretary, home secretary, chairperson (Empowered group on Vaccine Administration), health secretary, DG ICMR among others.

Among the guidelines the government issued after the meeting included laying emphasis on People’s participation and community involvement to fight against the pandemic.

It said testing, tracing, treatment, Covid-appropriate behaviour and vaccination — only this 5-point formula can curb the spread.

To spread awareness about Covid- appropriate behaviour, a special campaign will be organised from April 6 to April 14.

It also stressed the need to ramp up healthcare facilities, ensuring availability of oxygen, ventilators to those who are under home care and other measures to avoid mortalities under all circumstances.

It asked the states to impose restrictions in places where cases are high and involve community volunteers in tracing active cases and in the management of containment zones.

It said all the states and districts must continue working in mission mode.

The situation of Maharashtra, Punjab and Chhattisgarh is the most precarious, experts in the meeting pointed out. Maharashtra has contributed 57 per cent of total cases in the country in the last 14 days and 47 per cent of deaths in the country during the same period, while the state is seeing its worst daily rise of infections. Punjab’s contribution to the total number of cases remains only 4.5 per cent, but its addition of 16.3 per cent to the death toll is worrying, experts discussed. Like Punjab, Chhattisgarh too is contributing more to the daily death toll, the experts noted as a threadbare discussion on where each state and Union territory is standing was held.

According to the numbers provided by the Union health ministry, the number of daily Covid-19 cases have shot up 10 times in a span of 50 days.

Caught amid a severe grip of Covid-19 infections in a second wave, India is seeing an increased surge in the daily cases – a spike escalating at a rate worse than that seen last year.

India reported 9,121 cases on February 16, according to the health ministry. But in the weeks that followed, the number of daily cases increased at an alarming rate. When April began, the number touched 90,000 and on Sunday (April 4), India reported 93,249 new cases within a span of 24 hours, the highest since September last year.

India on Friday added the most cases of Covid-19 than any other country, and when it comes to average, even surpassed the number of new infections in the United States, an analysis of health ministry data showed

India had seen its worst daily spike in cases on September 17, 2020, when 97,894 infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours.

Worsening the situation, five states – Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Punjab – cumulatively account for 76.41 per cent of the total active cases in the country, according to the health ministry. India’s worst-hit state – Maharashtra – single-handedly accounts for more than half (58.19%) of the total active caseload of the country.

The active cases in the country have steadily increased for 25 days in a row, and surged to 6,91,597, accounting for 5.54 per cent of the total infections.

“Although the exact contribution of mutant strains to the escalation of cases in some states remains speculative, the measures to control the pandemic remain the same and hence implementation of various protocols for Covid-19 management are all the more critical in those areas,” a statement issued by the prime minister’s office said.

The Maharashtra government after a cabinet meeting chaired by the Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday announced stricter curbs and weekend lockdown due to a huge spike in the number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases.

Announcing the stringent curbs, state minister Nawab Malik said that there would be complete lockdown on weekends, which will begin at 8pm on Fridays and continue till 7am on Mondays.

The government has also asked public transport to operate at 50 per cent of their capacity. Theatres, multiplexes, malls and religious places will also remain closed.

Malik said there were no restrictions on opening of industrial units and markets.

“Only essential services will be permitted. Restaurants are permitted only for take away and parcel services. For offices, employees will have to work from home. A detailed SOP will be released soon,” the government said. The new measures will come into force from Monday and remain in place till April 30, the government said.