New DelhiThe Central Government said on Thursday that there have been signs of decreasing or no change in the cases of COVID infection in some places, but this trend needs to be looked into. The government said that although the weekly infection rate of COVID-19 in 400 districts of the country is more than 10 percent.
The government said that Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan are getting maximum cases of COVID-19. He said that there is a need to be vigilant to prevent the increase in infection. At the same time, there has been a decline in the cases and infection rate of COVID-19 in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Odisha, Haryana, West Bengal, the government said.
Addressing a press conference here, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry, Lav Agarwal said, “There is a clear trend that oxygen beds or ICU beds are required only in some cases of COVID-19.” “Furthermore, the cases of COVID-19 under treatment and death are much less during the current wave as compared to the earlier ones,” he said.
Cautioning against any laxity in adopting COVID-appropriate behaviour, Agarwal said that 400 districts have reported weekly Covid infection rates of more than 10 per cent, while in 141 districts it was five to 10 per cent in the week ending January 26. percentage was in between. He said genome sequencing in December found 1,292 cases of oomicron form and in January the number increased to 9,672.
Aggarwal said, “In terms of patients under treatment for COVID-19, the top 10 states contribute more than 77 percent of the total cases under treatment in the country. More than 90 percent of these patients are in home isolation. He presented a comparison of key figures during the second and third wave of COVID infections in India, at a press conference. It was told that when the second wave peaked on May 7 last year, 4,14,188 new cases were reported and 3,679 deaths occurred. At least 17,40,446 tests were conducted that day and the proportion of people who were fully vaccinated was around three per cent.
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On January 21 this year, 3,47,254 new cases were reported and 435 deaths occurred. A total of 19,35,912 tests were conducted that day and the proportion of those who were fully vaccinated was around 75 per cent. He said there are more than 50,000 under-treatment patients in 11 states while Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala have more than three lakh patients. Regarding vaccination coverage, it was told in the press conference that 95 percent of adults in India have been given the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 74 percent have been given both doses of the vaccine.
He said that 97.03 lakh health workers, frontline workers and people of 60 years and above were given ‘precautionary’ doses of anti-COVID-19 vaccine in the country. Also, 59 per cent adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years have received their first dose of COVID vaccine so far, he added.
Asked about media reports that whether there is a discussion on whether a third dose is needed for everyone, Agarwal said that there has been no such discussion. “We will share factual information with you whenever there is a science and evidence-based discussion. Any vaccine that has been introduced in India is based on evidence submitted to the relevant technical group and there should be no doubt about it.” On reports that despite the Centre’s guidelines, the drug Molnupiravir is still being administered by some private practicing physicians, Agarwal said that it is very important that the protocol is implemented at the grassroots level.
“We have a task force and a joint monitoring group consisting of technical experts. According to him, the details of the medicines to be given have been provided and we request everyone to follow them.” When asked whether the third wave of Covid infection has already peaked, Agarwal said that although the number of cases has come down to some extent in some geographical areas of the country and the rate of spread of infection is also low in some areas. There are areas where the infection has spread and cases are increasing. He said the overall picture is yet to emerge. (agency)