COVID-19 Notes
By Dr. Satish K Gupta*
It is spring all over; Is it travel time now?
The week has started on a positive note in terms of Covid numbers. Schools opened up. Children and parents both assured and enthusiastically reached school in pleasant weather.
The latest Coronavirus tally updated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare showed all indicators are either in green or inching towards that.
The morning bulletin released by the government on Monday showed that India registered 34, 113 new Covid-19 infections in the last 24 hours. This was significantly 24% lower than the Sunday figures. Today it went further down with 27,409 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours. The daily positivity rate today was 2.23% and the weekly positivity rate was 3.63%.
Another sign of relief is a consistent drop in the Covid fatalities. Today it was 347.
A close analysis shows that cases and deaths have genuinely dropped despite a high number of tests being done. 12,29,536 Covid tests were conducted in the last 24 hours.
It is a pan India decline
The decline in cases is seen in nearly all the states of India including Maharashtra and Kerala. A close look at pan India graphs shows only Mizoram and Nagaland at a slightly higher stage of 3rd wave but there too, the third wave shows a decline.
It is noteworthy that the third wave of the Covid-19 infections, driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant began in India sometime in the last week of December 2021. After the peak of the nearly 3.5 lakh daily Covid cases in the period of January 20-26, the daily cases are constantly coming down unlike many other countries of the world.
India continues to vaccinate people with full vigour
India’s cumulative vaccination coverage has exceeded 173.42 crore doses as of today. More than 44.68 lakh doses were given in the last 24 hours. India has given more than 1,76,43,725 booster doses.
India approved the 10th vaccine
Drug regulator’s Subject Expert Committee (SEC) has recommended emergency use authorisation to Biological E’s COVID19 vaccine, Corbevax for 12-18 yrs old*. Final approval by Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI)-Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation(CDSCO) likely to come in a few days.
Travel and tourism are no more totally restricted
People stranded in houses for two years are eagerly waiting to go for holidays. Lord Krishna takes the lead by inviting you to Jagannath Puri. The double dose Covid vaccination certificate is no longer required to enter the Shree Jagannath temple in Puri from February 21, 2022.
People willing to travel to Delhi can feel safe as Capital records a positivity rate of 1.37%
International Travel
Indians who are fully vaccinated can reportedly travel to these seven countries: the UK, Thailand, Singapore, Cyprus, Vietnam, Israel, and Saint Lucia in the Caribbean and Australia soon.
How long will be the respite?
Looking at past trends, Covid quiescence is likely to be for at least six months. May be even longer. The gap between the second and third waves was longer than between the first and second. With the increasing footprint of vaccination, asymptomatic infections and good innate immunity Indian may hope for a longer holiday.
But the virus is very smart. How will it behave in times to come, no one can say. The emergence of new mutants can be discouraged by uniformly vaccinating the world population. Till then the risk of newer variants lurks large. However, the virus has been kind enough to give good breathing space in past and hopefully it allows a happy travel time this summer.
Also read: Is nasal vaccine the last weapon in our armoury to end pandemic?
*Dr. Satish K Gupta is an MD in Medicines, a Visiting Senior Consultant Physician and Internist at Max Super Speciality Hospital, and a Clinical Assistant Professor at GS Medical College, Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut. He is the author of Journey of COVID in India: A Doctor’s Perspective.
