The number of active COVID-19 cases fell to 94 in Belagavi district on Monday. This is the first time in nearly two years that the figure is so low, say officers.
The district administration released a note on Monday saying that there are only 94 active cases in the district. There are three positive cases but no deaths due to the pandemic. The number of tests was 3,660.
The government has screened 14,07, 845 persons till now and collected 14,06,763 samples. Of these, 79,820 turned out to be positive. This means that for every 100 samples, 94 persons tested negative. As many as 936 patients died and 78,791 have recovered.
The government-approved laboratories are yet to analyse 411 samples. The trend was similar on Sunday when the number of positive cases was five, with one death. As per the government, the positivity rate for the last seven days was 0.18%.
Vaccination, however, remains low and unstable. As many as 29,318 doses were administered on Monday, but only 7,252 doses were given on Sunday.
Vaccination figures have been varying throughout this month.
On October 1, there were 19,867 doses and that reduced to 14,293 on October 2. There was a sudden drop to 692 doses on October 3 but it increased to 15,768 on October 4. There was a five-fold increase on October 5, that saw 80,136 doses being administered. On October 6, there was again a trough of 669 cases that rose to 10,721 on the October 7. As many as 75,480 doses were given on October 8 and 10,689 the next day.
The daily average for the fortnight is 23,398 doses.
The distribution of doses is also a matter of concern.
Officials have been able to vaccinate over 41.44 lakh people, which is around 76% of the population. But they include 30 lakh first doses and 11 lakh second doses, which account for 55% and 21% of the population.
Another serious issue seems to be haunting officers. Some persons who had received their first dose were getting false messages that they have been given their second dose also. At least three persons said they have sent complaints about this to the government.
A senior citizen from Shahapur complained that he has received such as message, without actually getting a dose. Venkatesh Patil, a retired bank officer, said that he got the message on October 3, stating that he had been given the second dose on October 2. My son helped me download the certificate. It has details of the staff who administered the vaccine at the Vadagaon Hospital. But that is not true, he said.
N.K. Patel, a businessman from the Old City, said that he had received similar messages. “I have received three messages, but only dose. This was disappointing,” he said. S. Syed Ahmed, a trader, said that he too received a message that his parents were given doses, while they did not.
Deputy Commissioner M.G. Hiremath said that he would ask the officials concerned to look into such complaints.
