Taking cue from a high rate of Covid-19 transmission in Kerala following a week-long festival Onam, the Government on Thursday cautioned that next two months --September and October ---are crucial in Covid-19 management and warned that festivals should be celebrated with Covid appropriate behaviour as the country is still in the midst of the second wave.
The warning came amid sudden sharp surge in Covid cases in the last 24 hours till 8 am on Thursday which breached 40,000 mark after hovering between 25,000 to 35,000 in the past few days even as 41 districts in the country reported a weekly positivity rate of more than 10 per cent.
“The country is still in the midst of the second wave. The second surge has not yet concluded. It is not over and therefore, we have to maintain all necessary precautions, particularly in light of our experience that after every festival and wherever there has been a gap in following Covid appropriate behaviour, we have seen a rise in cases,” said Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan while addressing media here. the concern comes in the wake of a string of upcoming festivals in the country particularly in North India.
ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava said vaccines are disease modifying and not disease preventing so it is very important to continue the use of masks even after vaccination. India added 46,164 new Covid cases over the last 24 hours - a 22 per cent jump - while deaths from COVID-19 rose to 607.The country's overall caseload now stands at 3.25 crore, while total fatalities are at 4.36 lakhs, according to the government.
Kerala reported 31,445 fresh Covid-19, with the test positivity rate (TPR) touching 19 per cent now. This is the first time that the state has reported more than 30,000 fresh cases since May 20 this year, when the second wave was raging.
58.4 per cent of total Covid-19 cases last week were reported from Kerala, added Bhushan.Kerala is the only state reporting over 1 lakh active Covid-19 cases, while four states have 10,000 to 1 lakh active cases. "Kerala has more than 1 lakh active cases. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu & Andhra Pradesh have 10,000 to 1 lakh active cases. Kerala contributes to 51%, Maharashtra 16% & rest of the three states contribute to 4-5% of the cases in the country,” Bhushan said.
Dr Rahul Bhargava, head, Haematology Department in Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon sounded a similar warning, saying that the Coronavirus has gone nowhere. It is here to stay and will become endemic ie some regions in the country reporting high number of cases and others comparatively less. So, the solution is to keep the mask on and adopt Covid appropriate behavior.
Speaking on the vaccination coverage in India, the Ministry said that 80 lakh doses of vaccine were administered in the country in the last 24 hours.