In second wave, rural areas see equal surge in Covid cases: UP Govt

The state health officials on Thursday appealed to those above 45 years in rural areas of Uttar Pradesh to get the Covid-19 shot at the earliest. Unlike previous instances, the surge in coronavirus cases was equally recorded from the rural parts of the state this time, officials said.

The appeal was made with a claim that proper doses of the vaccine are not only reducing the chances of contracting the infection by over 99 per cent, but are also reducing possibilities of transmission from the vaccinated person.

The appeal comes in the wake of the state recording fresh positive cases of over 2,000 a day – a first time in the last four months.
With 2,600 cases reported in the last 24 hours, the number of active cases stood at 11,918 – a five-fold increase in the last one month. The last time when the number of active cases was above 11,000 was on January 11. Nine people died due to the infection in the last 24 hours, taking the death count to 8,820 so far, said officials.

“Today, we started vaccinating those above 45 years. I request all those under this criteria to get the shot and register themselves on the CoWin portal. More than 11 lakh people have got both their doses, and we have witnessed that almost none of these people have got infected after getting both the doses. In some cases, infection has been recorded even after inoculation of both the shots, but that is not more than 0.5 per cent of cases. We have also noticed that unlike rapid transmission from infected people to the contacts, there is rarely any transmission from those 0.5 per cent of people who got infected after both the doses. Thus, vaccination is very important and it should not be delayed,” said Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad.

Prasad also appealed to people to not harbour any misconception that coronavirus is affecting people only in urban areas. He added that around half of the recent cases are from rural parts of the state.

BJP state president Swatantra Dev Singh takes his first Covid-19 shot. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)

“Earlier only one-fourth of the total cases used to be recorded from rural areas. That is why those above 45 years in rural areas should get their vaccines as soon as possible. In case you are getting Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, then the second dose is after four weeks. In case of Serum Institute of India’s Covishield, the second dose can be taken between four and eight weeks, but preferably after six weeks,” he said.

Earlier, Prasad had confirmed that this time the number of asymptomatic patients is higher as compared to the previous surges. Thus, around three-fourth of the patients are staying in home isolation. Out of the 11,918 active cases at present, 6,722 are in home isolation, 287 in private hospitals and rest in government facilities.

Meanwhile, given the increasing number of cases in the state capital, the Lucknow district administration is increasing its vigil. It sealed the Fun Republic Mall on Thursday for violation of Covid protocols till further order.

As per notice issued by an ADM Thursday, even on March 3 the mall was issued a notice for not maintaining visitor’s register and letting people enter without face masks. However, again on Thursday, the authorities found that the Covid help desk was not functioning properly, social distancing norm was not followed and visitors were allowed inside without masks.

Six other places that have been sealed in Lucknow for not following the Covid protocols are Mega Shop in Thakurganj, Globe Coffee, Mehman Laddoo and Gilori Pan Shop in Aliganj, My Bar in Gomti Nagar and Panchvati Sweets in Indira Nagar.