New Delhi: As coronavirus cases in India reached a three-month high, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday called for ‘rapid and decisive’ steps to address the emerging ‘second peak’ of COVID-19 while a top official said there was “no sign of concern” about the use of Covishield vaccine in the country. COVID-19 cases in parts of the country, Modi warned prime ministers during a video interaction that a “nationwide outbreak” could reappear and asked them to take the “test, follow and treat” approach seriously.
The Prime Minister also strongly insisted on using the RT-PCR method so that it accounts for more than 70 percent of the overall testing. India has recorded 28,903 new infections – the highest so far this year – with the total COVID-19 according to the Ministry of Health of the Union at 1,14,38,734. A total of 30,254 new infections were recorded on December 13 within 24 hours.
The number of deaths rose to 1,59,044 with 188 new deaths, the highest in about two months. With an increase for the seventh day in a row, the total active case load rose to 2,34,406, which now accounts for 2.05 percent of total infections, while the recovery rate dropped further to 96.56 percent.
In his interaction on the pandemic situation and progress in the COVID Modi said states like Maharashtra and Punjab have seen an increase in cases while the positivity rate has risen in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Maharashtra has 23,179 new cases of coronavirus A health official said on Wednesday, which is the highest one-off infection count so far in 2021, in Mumbai.
Modi has increased by more than 150 percent in seventy districts across the country in recent weeks, Modi said, emphasizing his concern.
“If we take this emerging ‘second peak’ of coronavirus immediately, then a condition for a nationwide outbreak could arise, ” he said in his first interaction with prime ministers after the world’s largest vaccination began on 16 January.
To stop the growing pandemic now, the prime minister stressed the need to take “rapid and decisive” steps. He noted that the seriousness of the local government on the use of masks was declining, and called for the immediate addressing of regional government problems. He warned that the confidence that comes from our achievements in the fight against coronavirus should not turn into negligence.
Taking note of the need to provide microcontroller zones, he said that everyone should be serious about ‘testing, detecting and treating’ as we have been doing for the past year. He said it is very important to track the contact of each infected person within the shortest time possible and keep the RT-PCR test rate above 70 percent. He called for more RT-PCR tests in countries that place more emphasis on rapid antigen testing such as Kerala, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and UP
He urged prime ministers to set up tests and introduce other measures, noting that many Tier 2 and 3 cities, formerly seen as “safe zones” due to the low spread of the infection, are now positive cases see increase.
One of the reasons behind India’s “successful” fight against the pandemic is that villages remain largely unaffected by the diseases, and if it now spreads over smaller towns, the rural areas will also be affected, he said.
Many of the most COVID countries affected have suffered many waves, he said, noting that some states in India are also seeing a sudden increase in cases after a phase of decline.
People should not panic, but it should be made sure that they also get rid of this problem, he said. Amid reports of possible side effects from Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and its suspension in some European countries, the center said there was ‘no sign of concern’ about its use in the country from now on.
Asked about the suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine in some European countries, Dr. UK Paul, member of NITI Aayog (Health) at a weekly press conference said it was done only as a precaution.
Concerns about the vaccination of AstraZeneca with thrombotic events in people who received the vaccine have come to light and as a result, about ten European countries have interrupted their vaccination program for AstraZeneca, he said.
“The issue of India investigating the adverse effects is being addressed. The last few days the information available to us has been checked in a very systematic way, and I assure you again that we have no sign of concern in this regard. Therefore, our vaccination program with Covishield will continue in full force.
‘We are aware of the need to address this concern, based on the emerging situation. “From today, there is no concern at all about Covishield,” said Paul.
India approves two vaccines COVID-19 – Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), and the indigenously developed Covaxin from Bharat Biotech – for limited emergency use in the country.
The center also said the average COVID-19 vaccine wastage in India was 6.5 per cent, with Telangana and Andhra Pradesh recording 17.6 and 11.6 per cent wastage respectively, as it required the optimal utilization of the stings.
The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country exceeded 3.64 million, the Ministry of Health said. This included the first dose for 1,24,74,362 beneficiaries over 60 years of age and 23,86,568 beneficiaries aged 45 to 60 years with specific co-morbidities.
Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan told a news conference COVID-19 vaccine wastage in five states – Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir – is higher than 6.5 percent, which is the national average.
During his video interaction, the prime minister also talked about wasting vaccines.
Bhushan also said that states are advised to ensure that all close contacts of any positive person are tracked down, isolated and tested within 72 hours.
Amid rising coronavirus In Punjab, Prime Minister Amarinder Singh called on the center to review it COVID-19 vaccination strategy and vaccinate all age groups in selected areas. He also tried to appeal to immunization.
He called for the vaccination of school and college students and teachers, judges, bus drivers and conductors, panches and sarpanches, mayors, municipal committee presidents, councilors, MLAs and MPs to pave the way for the normalization of important activities and to to go COVID-19 super spreaders.
Source: Telangana Today