IMA lists 3 reasons behind COVID-19 surge in India

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has warned citizens that the recent increase in daily COVID-19 cases could be due to three major factors. The IMA attributed the spike in cases to the relaxation of coronavirus-appropriate behavior, the emergence of a new variant of the novel virus, and the low testing rates, according to the news agency ANI.

• Over the last few weeks, the number of coronavirus infections has risen drastically in India, prompting the Union Health Ministry to conduct a nationwide COVID-19 preparedness mock drill at hospitals.
• Moreover, the increase in coronavirus infections coincides with an increase in H3N2 influenza cases in the country, prompting the Union Health Ministry to issue an advisory to states and union territories earlier.

On Monday, the country saw an increase in new cases once again, reporting 5,880 new coronavirus cases, up from 5,357 on Sunday. According to the Union Health Ministry, the country currently has 35,199 active cases, with a daily positivity rate of 6.91%. Over the past 24 hours, 3,481 recoveries were also reported in India, taking the total number of recoveries to 4,41,96,318.

Numerous states and union territories, including Tamil Nadu, Goa, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh, also conducted coronavirus mock drills on Monday at private and government hospitals to assess and ensure the proper arrangements for the treatment of coronavirus patients. Meanwhile, wearing face masks in public places has also been made mandatory by several state governments as a precautionary measure.

On Friday, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, chaired a high-level review meeting and directed health authorities to stay alert and analyze their possibility of tackling the spike in the number of infections. The health minister also emphasized the importance of identifying emergency hotspots by monitoring for severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) and influenza-like illnesses (ILI).

As a precaution, several Indian states also issued new guidelines and measures to deal with the situation. While Haryana, Puducherry, and Uttar Pradesh have made masks mandatory in public places, Kerala made masks mandatory for pregnant women and other vulnerable people. In addition, the Delhi government asked all health centers and hospitals to ramp up coronavirus testing facilities.