Amid declining Covid-19 cases in the past few days, the Government on Tuesday warned people not to be complacent as “effects of polls, Durga Puja, Diwali may be seen in coming weeks”.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan told media persons that it was essential that people strictly follow all the precautionary measures like not visiting crowded places, taking extra care of vulnerable sections of the society and maintaining “6-feet” distance.
“As part of Covid-19 appropriate behaviour, citizens must ensure that if they are experiencing any symptoms, then they must get tested. Don’t hesitate, get yourself tested,” he said.
“We believe that effects of recent elections (in Bihar and elsewhere), Durga Puja, Diwali and other festivals are still to be played out in full. We have to keep watching new cases very carefully,” he said cautioning people against letting their guard down despite “very low per million cases” in India.
In the last two days, India’s Covid-19 daily case count dropped to an average of 30,000, Government data released on Tuesday showed after 4-week average of 48,000 daily cases.
“We are not reading too much into this (drop),” Bhushan said, adding weekly trends better reflected the pandemic’s progress. However, a steady case surge has been observed in West Bengal since Durga Puja, in Kerala since Onam and in Delhi for the past fortnight ahead of Diwali.
The Union Health Ministry also noted India’s increased capacity to conduct Covid-19 tests on a daily basis. Evaluating India’s testing capabilities as compared to other nations, the Secretary said, “in terms of Covid-19 tests conducted daily we are above nations like the United States, United Kingdom and Russia.”
Also, India’s positivity rate is declining continuously and its death rate is low as compared to the rest of the world, said the official. India’s Deaths per Million Population is also amongst lowest in world; stands at 94 deaths per million population, he added.
About the progress of vaccines, VK Paul, NITI Aayog member added that the one of the Serum Institute is in the third phase. Meanwhile, at least five vaccines are under trial in India, out of which two are in the third phase, he added.
As per the Ministry data, 75.14 per cent of the new cases are being reported from 10 states and UTs. Delhi, which saw a surge in new cases over the last few days, reported only 3,797 new cases yesterday, followed by West Bengal which reported 3,012 new cases. Kerala recorded 2,710 new cases.
In terms of new fatalities, the data suggests 78.40 per cent of the 449 new deaths are concentrated in ten states and UTs. More than a fifth, 22.76 per cent of the new fatalities reported are from Delhi which reported 99 deaths. Maharashtra reported 60 fatalities, followed by West Bengal (53).
The total recovered cases stand at 82,90,370.
With this, the recovery rate has improved to 93.42 per cent, the Ministry added.