COVID-19 appropriate behaviour is still the best bet against infection and it is no rocket science.
This was stated by Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan on Monday in an interaction with State Health Ministers and senior officials of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab, Haryana and Kerala to review COVID-19 situation and preparedness.
Of the total active cases in the country, 0.44% patients were on ventilator support, 2.47% in ICU and 4.13% occupied oxygen-supported beds. India had the highest recovery rate and one of the lowest fatality rate globally, he claimed.
The Health Ministry said that some districts in the States invited for the meeting, have been reporting a rise in the number of cases, high average daily cases on a seven-day average, decline in testing, high rate of mortality within the first 24/48/72 hours of hospitalisation, high doubling rate and higher death among the vulnerable population groups.
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Dr. Vardhan said, “The country had stepped into the 11th month of the pandemic and now we all need to be more vigilant for the entire festive season that started with Dussehra and would continue onto Diwali, Chhat Puja, Christmas and then onto Makar Sankranti in the next year. Respiratory virus also spreads rapidly in the winter months”.
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Briefing the audience about his recent interaction with State Health Ministers and senior health officials of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh, he said that the “`trajectory of the disease is being monitored personally by the Prime Minister”.
At the meeting, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan requested all the States to focus on 10 key areas to contain COVID-19 and gain an upper hand over its trajectory. This included increased testing, targeted testing at markets, workplaces and religious congregations that could have the potential to become super spreaders, increased use of RT-PCR in testing and compulsory testing of symptomatic RAT negatives.
New cases
Meanwhile, as per data released by the Health Ministry, new cases reported in the last 24 hours did not cross the 50,000 mark. “45,903 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. Delhi has reported the highest daily new cases, also its highest tally so far with 7,745 new cases.It is followed by Maharashtra with 5,585 cases and Kerala with 5,585 cases,’’ said the Ministry.
It added that 79% of the new recovered cases were observed to be concentrated in 10 States/UTs. Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of single day recoveries with 8,232. In Kerala, 6,853 people recovered and it was followed by 6,069 in Maharashtra.
The Ministry said, “490 case fatalities have been reported in the past 24 hours. Fatalities have continued to decrease with less than 500 reported in the last 24 hours. Maharashtra, Delhi and West Bengal are leading the fatalities tally’’.
