PremiumTerming the heavy footfall of people in tourist destinations “frightening", soon after easing of lockdown restrictions, government on Tuesday warned that gross violations of COVID Appropriate Behavior can nullify the gains so far in containing virus transmission.
Noting that people have been thronging at tourist destinations especially in hilly areas such as Shimla, Manali and Mussoorie, the union health ministry has written to Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh for preventing flouting of the COVID Appropriate Behavior especially social distancing, respiratory hygiene and wearing of masks.
“The second wave of covid-19 pandemic is ongoing in some parts of the country. As the restrictions are lifting, people are going out and not adhering to the covid-19 appropriate behaviour. If this continues, we will see the negative outcome in coming months," said Lav Agarwal, joint secretary, union health ministry.
North eastern region too is the new concern for the government. Agarwal said that 73 Districts in India reporting more than 10% Positivity for the week 29th June to 5th July 2021. Majority of districts from the North-eastern states i.e Arunachal Pradesh (18), Rajasthan (10), Manipur (9), Kerala (7), Meghalaya (6), Tripura (4), Sikkim (4), Odisha (3), Nagaland (3), Assam (2), Chhattisgarh (1), Himachal Pradesh (1), Lakshadweep (1), Telangana (1), Maharashtra (1), Mizoram (1) and Puducherry (1).
“However, the pandemic is declining nationally, the cases are still rising in the north eastern states. The daily new cases continue to show a decline during second wave. There is a decline of 13% in average daily new cases in last week. But 80% new cases in India reported from 90 Districts – indicating need for focused attention in these areas. The second wave is still existent in a limited way, in some states," said Agarwal.
A total of 31 covid-19 deaths were reported in Assam in the last 24 hours, while 2,640 new infections were detected in 1,16,542 tests done during the day. Daily positivity rate in Manipur continues to run high with 13.5 %; 432 positive, 8 deaths reported. The cumulative number of vaccinated people in Manipur is 7,38,63. Similarly, covid-19 continues to take its toll on Meghalaya with nine more succumbing to the infection on Monday taking the death toll to 871. 448 patients recovered from the viral infection while 377 fresh cases were detected in the last 24 hours. The active tally now stands at 4,454 while a total number of 46,676 patients have recovered so far.
India reported over 34,703 new covid-19 cases in last 24 hours; lowest in 111 days. India's Active Caseload declines to 4,64,357 which is the lowest in 101 days. Active cases constitute 1.52% of total cases. India too reported 554 deaths due to covid-19. Rajasthan recorded three more Covid fatalities and 55 fresh cases on Monday, taking the death toll to 8,941 and infection tally to 9,52,789.
India has so far administered over 36 crores covid-19 vaccine doses under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive. Reacting to the reports of vaccine shortage in Rajasthan during the last two days leading to closing of some COVID vaccination centres, the union health ministry in a separate statement clarified that the States/ UTs had been informed adequately in advance about the total doses that will be made available to them as well as to the private sector hospitals during the month of July 2021. The States have been advised to plan their covid-19 Vaccination sessions based on the availability of COVID vaccines, it said.
The central government said that on 1st July 2021, Rajasthan had over 1.69 lakh unutilised balance doses of vaccines available with it. Under the National COVID Vaccination Program, the State has received over 8.89 lakh doses of vaccines between 1st and 6th July 2021 free of cost from Government of India.
“In addition, Rajasthan would receive an additional 39,51000 doses during the remaining part of July 2021. Hence in the entire month of July 2021, Rajasthan will receive more than 50, 90,000 thousand vaccine doses. This quantity may increase further depending on the production and availability of the vaccine doses. Furthermore, States have also been requested to indicate to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in case more doses of COVID vaccine are required by them," said the government.
“Since the vaccines are a biological product, the process of manufacturing takes time. Once produced, the vaccines are tested for quality and safety. Thus, the manufacturing process to production of vaccine takes time and does not translate into immediate supply," it said.
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