Hospitalisation, Death Significantly Lower in Third Wave: ICMR
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 20: Even as India recorded 3.17 lakh new Covid cases on Thursday, highest in the last 249 days, the Union Health Ministry said bed occupancy or hospitalisation was significantly lower in third wave in comparison to that in the second.
The director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Balram Bhargava said the number of deaths have considerably reduced due to vaccinations. “In this third surge of Covid-19, we are currently not witnessing severe illness and deaths due to high vaccination uptake,” Bhargava said. It was pointed out that 94% of India’s adults have been administered first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 72% are fully vaccinated.
Earlier in the day, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that the peak of third Covid-19 wave seems to have gone past in the national capital after it registered a record single-day rise of 28,000 cases. However, he warned that the city was still not out of danger zone while stressing on the need to monitor the trend before easing of restrictions.
The Union Health Ministry, in its latest guidelines for the management of Covid-19 in children and adolescents, advised against the use of antivirals and monoclonal antibodies for those below the age of 18. The data released by the ministry said India reported more than 3.17 lakh (3,17,532) new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours ending at 9 am on Thursday, marking a 12 per cent increase in fresh cases since Wednesday. The country’s active caseload currently stood at 19,24,051, while the recovery rate stood at 93.69 per cent. The total tally of Omicron cases rose to 9,287 on Thursday, 3.63 per cent higher than yesterday. As many as 491 Covid patients succumbed to the deadly infection in a day. The proportion of fully vaccinated people went up to 72% while 52% of children in the 15-18 age group in India have been vaccinated till now.
The highest among the affected states Kerala on Thursday reported 46,387 new Covid-19, 15,388 recoveries and 32 deaths in the last 24 hours. 309 deaths were added to COVID death list as per the guidelines of central government. Death toll stood at 51,501. According to the health ministry, Asia was showing a sharp surge in global contribution from 7.9% to approx 18.4% in 4 weeks.
“Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, UP, Gujarat, Odisha, Delhi & Rajasthan are among the top 10 States in terms of active cases,” Rajesh Bhushan, Health Secretary, said. The Health Ministry on Thursday listed Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh are among the ‘States of Concern’. “We have sent central health teams to these states and are continuously reviewing the situation,” Bhushan said.
However, schools across Maharashtra will start to reopen for students of classes 1-12 on Monday after closing due to the Omicron-fuelled third wave. This comes after the recent Covid surge in the state began to show signs of plateauing this week.
Chennai-based medical device firm Kriya Medical Technologies on Thursday said it has received Indian Council of Medical Research approval for Krivida Novus COVID-19 testing kit—developed in collaboration with ImmuGenix Bioscience—that can also detect the Omicron variant. The kit detects the SARS-CoV-2 virus and also differentiates the Omicron variant from Delta and other variants. The test takes about 45 minutes to detect the infection and determine the variant, the company said in a statement.
Meanwhile, New Zealand is among the few remaining countries to have avoided any outbreaks of the omicron variant — but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Thursday an outbreak was inevitable and the nation would tighten restrictions as soon as one was detected. But she also said that New Zealand would not impose the lockdowns that it has used previously, including for the delta variant. “This stage of the pandemic is different to what we have dealt with before. Omicron is more transmissible,” Ms. Ardern said.
China’s aviation regulator will suspend six more fights from the United States, it said on Thursday, taking to 96 the total cancellations this year, based on a Reuters tally. The Civil Aviation Administration of China ordered American Airlines to cancel two flights from Dallas to the commercial hub of Shanghai from the week of Feb. 7. It also ordered China Southern Airlines to suspend four more flights from Los Angeles to the southern city of Guangzhou from Feb. 28, which stands to affect return flights to China in March.
The US President Joe Biden has acknowledged that the pandemic has left Americans exhausted and demoralised but insisted at a news conference marking his first year in office that he has “outperformed” expectations in dealing with it. He said on Wednesday that he would likely have to settle for “big chunks” of his signature economic package to break an impasse in Congress and further attack inflation and the pandemic.
