“A technical body of experts is gathering data to develop a guideline for addressing post-COVID complications,” Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a press conference, the official said while the Ministry is not tracking the number of post-COVID syndrome cases in India, it was following reports of re-infection confirmed in Hong Kong earlier this week.
“We have read with interest the reports of re-infection in Hong Kong, but we would like to state that re-infection depends on a number of factors including immune status of the person, whether the virus has mutated etc. This is just one case as of now and normally it doesn’t happen in viral diseases for example measles,” said Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) director general Balram Bhargava, who also addressed the press.
“This is still a relatively new virus — only about 7-8 months old. We aren’t alarmed with the development but are following it closely. We still are understating the time period of immunity that the infection provides,”Dr Bhargava added.
Talks over vaccine
Speaking about the Sputnik-5 vaccine (COVID-19 vaccine developed in Russia) the Ministry said India and Russia are in communication. “Some initial information has been shared and we are awaiting details,” said Mr. Bhushan.
While ICMR chief said, “It’s the irresponsible section of the population who don’t adhere to COVID-safety norms, who are driving-up the pandemic numbers in India”, the Health Ministry said of the total number of active cases in India, only 2.7% patients are on oxygen support, 1.92% patients are in ICU and 0.29% patients are on ventilator support.
Rising recoveries
Stating that India has on Tuesday reported the highest recoveries in a single day Mr. Bhushan said, “66,550 COVID-19 patients have recovered and been discharged in the last 24 hours. With this the total number of recoveries has crossed 24 lakh (24,04,585). India's Recovery Rate has reached 76% (75.92%). The number of recovered patients has outpaced the active cases (7,04,348) by more than 17 lakh. The recovered patients are 3.41 times the active cases, as on date. There has been more than 100% hike in the recoveries in the last 25 days.”
“The record high recoveries have ensured that the actual caseload of the country viz. the active cases, has reduced and currently comprises only 22.24% of the total positive cases. The steadily falling Case Fatality Rates stands at 1.84% today,” he added.
As of Tuesday, India has tested nearly 3.7 crore samples, the ICMR said.
“The cumulative testing as on date has reached 3,68,27,520.With 9,25,383 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, the Tests Per Million have seen a sharp rise to 26,685. Starting from a single lab at Pune, India’s testing lab network has seen a substantial widening with a total of 1,524 labs today with 986 labs in the government sector and 538 private labs,” said Dr. Bhargava.
