PM holds meeting to review situation; UP sees major rise in Covid cases
As the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 continues to fuel a surge in the infection count across the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday chaired a meeting through video conferencing to review the situation.
There is no let-up in virus infection in India which saw a single-day rise of 1,59,632 new Coronavirus cases, raising the tally to 3,55,28,004 crore, which included 3,623 cases of the Omicron variant.
Uttar Pradesh has reported a massive surge in Covid cases ahead of State elections that are less than a month away. The 7,695 fresh cases reported over the last 24 hours are 13 times what was recorded last week. Last Sunday, the State had recorded 552 fresh cases.
On Sunday, the situation seemed to stabilise in Maharashtra, but cases spiked in West Bengal and Karnataka in a big way. Delhi saw as many as 17 deaths on Sunday, highest in a day in seven months.
The Prime Minister’s (PM) high-level meeting was held a day after the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced poll dates for five States, i.e. Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Uttarakhand, Goa and Punjab. Sources said that the meeting discussed rising cases in the States and the country's preparedness to tackle the pandemic.
On Monday, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will interact with State Health Ministers over the Covid-19 situation.
There is some respite for Maharashtra after it saw a huge surge in the last two weeks. On Sunday, the State reported 44,388 new cases and 12 deaths. Mumbai reported 19,474 fresh Covid cases and seven related deaths. The city had recorded 20,318 new Covid-19 cases and five deaths on Saturday.
The Maharashtra Government on Sunday revised the Covid-19-related restrictions for gyms and beauty salons, allowing them to operate at 50 per cent capacity from January 10 midnight. On Saturday, the Government had said gyms and beauty salons would remain closed, while hair cutting salons would function at 50 per cent capacity.
Delhi reported 22,751 cases, 12 per cent higher than Saturday’s number of 20,181. The positivity rate stood at 23.53 per cent. The city also reported 17 deaths, the most Covid deaths in a day since June 16 last year.
On Friday, Delhi reported 17,335 fresh Covid cases while on Thursday the city registered 15,097 infections.
Altogether 1,800 patients are admitted in the Covid-dedicated hospitals in the city, said a Government health bulletin. Out of these, 182 are Covid suspects while 1,618 are confirmed positive patients, it said.
Of the patients admitted, 1,442 are from Delhi while 176 are from the neighbouring States. Of them, 440 among them are on oxygen support, while 44 are on ventilator support, while another 310 are in the ICU. But the situation is turning for the worse in West Bengal. The State reported 24,287 new Covid cases, 8,213 recoveries and 18 deaths on Sunday.
The State’s case positivity rate of 19 per cent is among the highest in the country. The number of Covid-19 cases in Kolkata has risen almost 37 times over two weeks — from 178 on December 23 to 6,569 on January 6.
The situation in the southern States is also deteriorating. Karnataka on Sunday reported 12,000 fresh Covid cases, 9,020 alone in Bengaluru. The State’s positivity rate stands at 6.33 per cent. Similarly, Tamil Nadu reported 12,895 new cases and 12 deaths in the last 24 hours. Kerala on Sunday reported 6,238 new Corona cases and 2,390 recoveries.
Among the poll-bound States, Punjab reported 3,922 new cases and nine death in 24 hours, whereas Uttarakhand logged 1,413 Covid cases, 482 recoveries, one death in the last 24 hours. Active cases stand at 4,118 in the State.
Uttar Pradesh is also seeing a gradual rise in Coronavirus cases. The State reported 7,695 new cases and four deaths on Sunday taking its active case tally to 25,974. Only three per cent are under hospitalisation.
Gautam Budh Nagar and Lucknow accounted for 1,149 and 1,115 cases respectively in the past 24 hours. As many 12 districts in the State have more than 500 cases. Of these Gautam Budh Nagar leads with 4,612 cases, followed by Lucknow (3,653), Ghaziabad (3,297), Meerut (2,519) and Varanasi (1,313).
There is no let-up in virus infection in India which saw a single-day rise of 1,59,632 new coronavirus cases, raising the tally to 3,55,28,004 crore, which included 3,623 cases of the Omicron variant.
At present, 27 States and Union Territories have been affected by the fast-spreading variant. As many as 1,409 people have recovered from the strain too, the Union Health Ministry said.
The overall daily positivity rate was recorded at 10.21 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 6.77 per cent, The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive has exceeded 151.58 crore, the Union Health Ministry said.
The country's R naught value that indicates the spread of the infection was recorded at four this week, higher than the 1.69 recorded during the peak of the pandemic's second wave. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), country's top medical body, has said that “the Omicron variant is the predominant circulating strain.”