New Delhi, March 20: Eight states including Maharashtra and Delhi are reporting a rising trajectory of new COVID-19 cases as India recorded one lakh infections in just three days including the latest spike of over 40,000 cases in the biggest daily increase in nearly four months.
The Union Health ministry while giving the latest COVID-19 update on Saturday said that on the other hand Kerala is showing a “consistently declining” trend. The worst hit state of Maharashtra recorded the highest number of new cases–27,126–since the outbreak of the pandemic early last year while Delhi reported over 800 cases for the first time this year as the positivity rate breached the 1 per cent-mark after over two months.
The latest data was released on Saturday by the respective health departments. As authorities sound alarm over the fresh surge in the cases, AIIMS director Randeep Guleria said the “main reason” is that people feel the pandemic is over and they are not following COVID appropriate behaviour.
“There are multiple reasons for the surge, but the main reason is that there is change in people’s attitude and they feel coronavirus is over. People should still restrict non-essential travel for some more time,” he said at an event organised here by the Indian Police Service(Central) Association.
NITI Aayog member (Health) V K Paul said the chain of transmission has to be stopped and for that vaccine is one tool but another is containment and surveillance strategy.
“Not following COVID-19 behaviour and laxity is a major reason for the surge,” he said speaking at the same event.
The Health ministry said Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab cumulatively account for 76.22 per cent of India’s total active caseload, with the western state contributing to 62 per cent of such cases, while Kerala and Punjab account for 8.83 per cent and 5.36 per cent of active cases respectively.
“A rising trajectory of daily new cases is visible in eight states. These are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka and Haryana. Kerala is showing a consistently declining trend,” the ministry said in a statement.
India reported 40,953 new infections in a day, the highest single-day rise in 111 days, taking the nationwide COVID-19 tally to 1,15,55,284, it said. On November 29, a total of 41,810 new infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours.
With this, India has registered over one lakh cases in just three days. On Friday, 39,726 new cases were logged while 35,871 fresh cases were recorded the previous day. Registering an increase for the tenth day in a row, the total active caseload has reached 2,88,394 accounting for 2.49 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has further dropped to 96.12 per cent, the Health ministry data showed.
The COVID death toll increased to 1,59,558 with 188 new fatalities, the ministry said, adding that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.
The 188 new fatalities include 70 deaths from Maharashtra, 38 from Punjab and 17 from Kerala. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,11,07,332, while the case fatality rate stood at 1.38 per cent, the official data showed. (PTI)
‘Vaccine should be able to give protection for 8-10 months’
New Delhi, March 20: The COVID-19 vaccine should be able to give good protection from the infection for eight to ten months, AIIMS director Randeep Guleria said on Saturday.
He also said that no major side-effect of the vaccine has been recorded.
“The COVID-19 vaccine should be able to give good protection from the infection for eight to ten months and maybe, even more,” Guleria said at an event organised by the IPS (Central) Association. He said the biggest reason for the surge in cases is that people feel the pandemic is over and they are not following COVID-appropriate behaviour.
“There are multiple reasons for the surge, but the main reason is that there is change in people’s attitude and they feel coronavirus is over. People should still restrict non-essential travel for some more time,” the official asserted.
NITI Aayog member (Health) V K Paul said the chain of transmission has to be stopped and for that vaccine is one tool but another is containment and surveillance strategy.
“Not following COVID-19 behaviour and laxity is major reason for the surge,” he said. Responding to a question on vaccinating more people, Paul said the issue is vaccines are limited and that is why, prioritisation has been done.
“If we had unlimited supply, we would open the vaccination for everyone. That is the reason, not everyone, is getting vaccinated. Most countries in the world are not able to go beyond priority group because of this reason,” he said. The NITI Aayog member also said that the highest mortality was seen among people with co-morbidities and older age groups. (PTI)