Eight states, including Maharashtra and Delhi, are reporting spikes in new COVID-19 cases as India recorded lakh infection in just three days, including the recent surge of over 40,000 cases at the largest daily surge in nearly four months.
The Union Health Department announced the latest COVID-19 update on Saturday, saying that Kerala, on the other hand, is showing a “steadily declining” trend.
Worst-hit state of Maharashtra recorded the highest number of new cases since the pandemic broke out early last year at 27,126, while Delhi reported over 800 cases for the first time this year as the positivity rate exceeded 1 percent. Mark after over two months. The latest data were published on Saturday by the respective health authorities.
When authorities sounded the alarm about the new wave of cases, Randeep Guleria, director of AIIMS, said the “main reason” is because people feel the pandemic is over and they are not following COVID-appropriate behavior.
“There are several reasons for the increase, but the main one is because people’s attitudes are changing and they feel like the coronavirus is over. People should limit non-essential travel for some time,” he said an event that was organized here by the Indian Police Service (Central) Association.
NITI Aayog Member (Health) UK Paul said the chain of transmission needs to be stopped and for this vaccine one tool and another is a containment and surveillance strategy.
“COVID-19’s non-compliance and negligence is a major reason for the surge,” he said at the same event.
The Ministry of Health said Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab cumulatively accounted for 76.22 percent of India’s total active case numbers, with the western state accounting for 62 percent of those cases, while Kerala and Punjab accounted for 8.83 percent and 5.36 percent of active cases, respectively .
“There is an increase in new cases every day in eight states. These are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka and Haryana. Kerala is showing a steady downward trend,” the ministry said in a statement.
India reported 40,953 new infections in one day, the highest increase in a day in 111 days, bringing the nationwide COVID-19 number to 1,15,55,284. On November 29, a total of 41,810 new infections were registered within 24 hours.
India registered over one lakh case in just three days. 39,726 new cases were logged on Friday, while 35,871 new cases were recorded the day before.
With an increase for the tenth day in a row, the total number of active cases has reached 2,88,394, representing 2.49 percent of total infections, while the recovery rate has continued to fall to 96.12 percent, according to data from the Department of Health.
The COVID death toll rose to 1.59,558 with 188 new deaths. The ministry added that more than 70 percent of deaths were due to comorbidities.
The 188 new deaths include 70 deaths from Maharashtra, 38 from Punjab and 17 from Kerala.
The number of people who have recovered from the disease rose to 1,11,07,332, while the death rate was 1.38 percent, the official data showed.
Amid a spike in Mumbai coronavirus cases, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to run over 47,000 rapid antigen tests in public places every day.
Mumbai added more than 37,000 new cases in a month. The BMC saw the highest increase of 3,062 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total number of cases to 3,55,897.
In a circular issued on Friday, the agency said that rapid antigen tests would be done free of charge, with the exception of tests in shopping malls. The tests carried out in shopping centers are chargeable.
The tests are compulsory for the selected people, and those who refuse must take action under the Epidemics Act of 1897, the Circular.
“It’s a bitter pill that we must swallow now to check on the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the city. We appeal to citizens to comply with the rapid antigen tests and help with them,” said one Official.
According to the circular, BMC officials aim to conduct 47,800 tests per day at locations such as train stations, bus depots, grocery stores, markets, tourist attractions and government offices.
People are randomly selected for testing.
Even if a person has already been tested, the citizen body will insist on testing again as detecting the infection is more important, the BMC official said.
When asked about vaccinating more people, Paul said the problem was that vaccines were limited and therefore priorities had been set.
“If we had unlimited care, we would open up vaccination to everyone. That is why not everyone is vaccinated. Most countries in the world cannot go beyond the priority group for this reason,” he added.
Paul also said the highest mortality rates were seen in people with comorbidities and older age groups.
“These people are not allowed to delay taking the vaccine. So the message is that they need it more than anyone else. This is why they have been prioritized for receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.”
To date, over four million people in the country have been vaccinated against the disease. In the current phase of the vaccination campaign, people over the age of 60 and people between the ages of 45 and 59 with comorbidities will be vaccinated.
In an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus in Ahmedabad, one of the cities in Gujarat where cases are increasing, the Citizens’ Bureau said it has decided to restart its efforts to review the virus’s “super-spreaders”.
“Super spreaders” are those people who are likely to spread the infection to large numbers of people.
Individuals such as vegetable sellers, pharmacy owners, grocers, auto rickshaw drivers, limo owners, and bricklayers are required to get ID cards after getting tested for the virus at 18 urban health centers in the city, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC). said.
They will be screened by rapid antigen tests and provided with COVID-19 negative IDs, the agency said in a press release.
Aside from them, boys who deliver groceries and those who work in supermarkets need to have their RT-PCR test done.
With Tamil Nadu seeing a sudden spike in coronavirus cases in recent days, the state government ordered schools to be closed for grades 9, 10 and 11 from March 22 pending further orders.
However, they would still work for the 12th standard students as they have to take the board exams.
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