With an increase in COVID-19 cases for the seventh day in a row, India on Wednesday recorded its highest daily tally this year with 28,903 new infections in the past 24 hours. Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said 70 districts across 17 States registered a 150% rise in cases in the past 15 days.
Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Bhushan said: “India is currently reporting nearly 43% increase in the week-on-week rise in new COVID-19 cases and nearly 37% deaths in the same time. In the past two weeks, 70 districts in 16 States have registered a 150% rise in cases while 55 districts in 17 States have registered a rise of between 100 and 150%.”
Wastage of vaccine
Warning against the wastage of vaccine, which, according to Mr. Bhushan, is at the rate of 6.5%, the Health Secretary said Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir were registering a rate higher than the country’s average. “This wastage has to be curbed immediately,” he said.
Member (Health), NITI Aayog, V.K. Paul said that currently India had “no reason for concern” regarding the use of Covishield vaccine.
“There is no question of stopping AstraZeneca’s vaccine against coronavirus as of now. We are aware of the developments and reports of adverse reactions [blood clot formation following the use of the vaccination] and the fact that countries in European Union including Germany, Italy and France, decided to temporarily halt the use. Our officials are monitoring and following the developments and currently there is no signal of concern,” Dr. Paul said.
He, however, cautioned against the surge in COVID-19 cases stating that while the first phase was seen mostly in bigger cities, “the rise in cases is now being registered also in two and three tier cities which requires us to use all our knowledge and infrastructure to ease the situation.”
Strict compliance
The Health Ministry directed the States/Union Territories to ensure strict adherence to mask wearing, physical distancing and hand hygiene. “Greater vigilance and monitoring at highest levels for all potential events where crowds gather, clinical management in districts reporting higher deaths and national clinical management protocol to be adhered to in districts reporting higher deaths are all vital,” said Mr. Bhushan.
He added that the States/Union Territories had been asked to ensure efficient implementation of the “Test, Track and Treat” strategy and significantly increase testing in all districts. “RT PCR tests — a minimum of 70% while ensuring all close contacts [approximately 30] be traced, isolated, tested in 72 hours — will aid in curbing an outbreak,” said Mr. Bhushan. He said identifying clusters, focusing on surveillance and stringent implementation of containment zone approach while undertaking priority vaccination of identified groups in districts reporting higher cases had been advised.