Is India showing signs of ending COVID-19 pandemic?

The daily positivity rate of 20.75 per cent recorded on January 24, 2022 has now decreased to 3.89 per cent.  Positivity Rate less than 5% is sign of ending pandemic. India reported 58,077  new Covid-19 cases and 657 related deaths in the last 24 hours ending 8 am, today.

India Issuing new guidelines for international travellers

No Quarantine

Ministry of Health on Thursday February 10, 2022 scrapped the mandatory seven-day home quarantine. The new guidelines, which come into effect from February 14, require passengers to self-monitor their health for 14 days after arrival and isolate in case they develop symptoms of Covid-19.

Isolation stays

All passengers will undergo thermal screening on arrival and be isolated at a medical facility if found symptomatic. If they test positive, their contacts will be identified as per protocol.

No RTPCR needed. Vaccine passport is enough.

The ‘at-risk’ tag for countries has also been removed. Moreover, passengers from 82 countries are allowed to upload a certificate of full vaccination instead of a negative RT-PCR report obtained 72 hours prior to boarding.

These countries include those which have an agreement with India on mutual recognition of vaccination certificates of nationally recognised or WHO recognised vaccines or those which provide quarantine-free entry to Indians.

World Scenario

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 403.3 million globally. The number of confirmed deaths has now passed 5.77 million. More than 10.27 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally.

It took over a month for COVID-19 cases to reach 400 million from 300 million, compared to five months for the cases to reach 300 million from 200 million.

The top five countries reporting the most cases on a seven-day average – United States, France, Germany, Russia, and Brazil – currently account for roughly 37% of all new cases reported worldwide.

The US government is planning to roll out COVID-19 vaccines for children under 5 as soon as February 21, 2021.

Easing Restriction

1. Sweden scrapped almost all of its few pandemic restrictions yesterday and stopped most testing for COVID-19, even as the pressure on the healthcare systems remained high and some scientists begged for more patience in fighting the disease.

2. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced yesterday that the legal requirement to self-isolate after a positive COVID-19 test could end as soon as February

3. The governors of the US states of New York and Massachusetts have announced plans to end certain mask mandates.
The moves come as the head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that COVID-19 hospitalization and case trends were encouraging, but that ‘we are not there yet’.

Hue and cry continues in some countries

Japan’s biggest wave of COVID-19 cases to date is showing signs of peaking, although authorities are extending virus curbs into next month to try to bring down the rate of hospitalizations.

VietNam has warned that its healthcare system could be overwhelmed, after seeing a surge in new COVID-19 cases following its Lunar New Year holiday.

The COVID-19-related death toll in Turkey rose to 266 in the last 24 hours, the highest daily level in nearly five months, health ministry data showed on Wednesday.

WHO warns of rising COVID-19 cases in the Middle East

Middle Eastern countries have seen a rise in coronavirus infections in the last six weeks because of low vaccination rates.

More than 35% of the region’s population is fully vaccinated. But one quarter of the countries have not yet reached 10% vaccination coverage.

Also read: Understanding COVID-19: The first human challenge study of Sars CoV-2

*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.