Warning people over the spread of Covid-19 in the country, the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday said that India’s R-factor or the reproductive rate of a virus that signifies the spread of Covid-19 is more than one in eight states, including Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Dr V.K. Paul, who heads the government’s Covid-19 Taskforce, said the Covid-19 pandemic is far from being over and the second wave of the pandemic, driven by the fast transmissible Delta variant, is still spreading in the country with as many as 44 districts reporting a high positivity rate.
“The pandemic is yet not over and the disastrous second wave, as far as our country is concerned, is still not over. The daily new Covid-19 cases being reported across the world are still high as more than 4.7 lakh infections are being reported every day,» Dr V.K. Paul said.
Describing the Delta variant as a dominant problem, Dr Paul said the pandemic is still raging and the second wave is persisting in our own country. He also expressed concern over the R-factor or the reproductive rate of a virus, which indicates how fast it is spreading. «Please remember that the R-number should be 0.6 or below. If it has gone over 1, it shows it is a significant problem and the virus wants to spread,» he added. As per the data shared by the Health Ministry, 18 districts are reporting increasing trend in daily new cases in the last four weeks. Around 10 districts—Malappuram, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Ernakulam, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Kasargod, Pathanamthitta, Wayanad, Idukki—are from Kerala alone.
Kerala seems to be staring at a third wave already as it has a whopping 40% (1.65 lakh) share in the country›s total active Covid-19 cases at present. In the last 24 hours, Kerala reported 13,984 new Covid-19 cases, 15,923 recoveries and 118 deaths. The positivity rate stood at 10.93 percent. The total caseload of active cases for Kerala is 1,65,322, while total recoveries are 32,42,684. The death toll stands at 16,955.
The Central health team on a visit to Kerala has asked the state to ramp up vaccination and complete the Sero survey as soon as possible, a source said. “The central team has asked the state of Kerala to accelerate vaccination and complete the Sero survey as soon as possible,” the source said.
The six-member high-level multidisciplinary team visited six districts that were reporting a high number of cases. The central team believes that since Kerala is an urban village demography, hence, lockdown would not have a great effect unless it is strictly monitored, the source further said. The visit of the central team was followed by a briefing with the Chief Secretary of the state and secretaries of various other departments along with the Health Department on August 2. The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is concerned about the surge in the number of Covid cases in the state. It is also worried that more than half the population is vulnerable to viruses, an NCDC official earlier told ANI. Health secretary Rajesh Bhushan has also written to the state government on super spreader events observed in Kerela in the recent past.
Meanwhile, India reported 30,549 new cases in last 24 hours while 422 people succumbed to the virus. According to data, India’s active caseload currently stands at 4,04,958, while the Weekly Positivity Rate remains below 5%, currently at 2.39%. On the other hand, India’s Covid-19 vaccination coverage crossed the landmark milestone of 48 crore as more than 51.51 lakh vaccine doses were administered on Tuesday. As many as 38,887 recovered in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative count of deaths and recoveries to 4,25,195 and 3,08,96,354 respectively. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a total of 47,12,94,789 samples have been tested for Covid-19 till now of which 16,49,295 were tested in the last 24 hours.
WITH AGENCY INPUTS