India continues to report highest number of daily COVID-19 cases and deaths
Indian Medical Association demands government to declare health emergency in Kerala
New Delhi: While recoveries have crossed 51 lakhs in India, which is the highest in the world, Indian Council of Medical Research’s second sero-prevalence report has found that a considerable population is still vulnerable to SARS-COV-2 virus. The study further shows, one in 15 individuals aged 10 years or below were exposed to SARS-CoV-2 by August 2020.
In Kerala, the Indian Medical Association has demanded to declare a health emergency in the state in the wake of the recent huge surge in Covid-19 cases. Pointing out that one lakh Covid cases were reported in the state in the past 28 days, the IMA said spread of the disease is witnessed among health workers and also among the commoners. The state committee of ruling LDF which met today decided to take a final call on re-imposing lockdown after two weeks. The by-elections to Chavara and Kuttanad Assembly constituencies have been cancelled by Election Commission amid Covid pandemic. 4,538 new Covid-19 cases were confirmed in Kerala yesterday. At present, 57,879 patients are under treatment and 2.32 people under quarantine. With five more fatalities today the Covid death toll has reached 702.
Arunachal Pradesh recorded the highest single day spike with 329 covid 19 positive cases yesterday. The Itanagar Capital Region detected 117 positive cases.
In Gujarat, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) ordered night curfew in 27 areas of the city in view of a steady rise in new Covid-19 cases and violation of norms by residents of certain localities. In another development, former Chief Minister of Keshubhai Patel (92) was discharged from hospital, after his recovery from Covid 19.
Union Health Secretary, Rajesh Bhushan though told media persons in New Delhi today that another analysis of a national trend showed that new recoveries had exceeded new cases in recent days. Further, an analysis of data since September 15, 2020 showed a continuous and sustained decrease in the percentage of active cases and rise in percentage of recovered cases. “As on date, there are only 15.4% active cases, while 83.01% are recovered cases. In Maharashtra, a decline in the number of average daily new cases has been observed in the week ending today,” he informed.
Even as Bhushan stated that India still had one of the lowest cases (4453) as well as deaths (70) per million in the world, India continues to lead the global list with highest numbers of newly reported daily cases of COVID-19, as well as daily deaths. While the total COVID-19 cases in the country has now crossed the 6 million mark and stands at 61,45,291 — a rise of 70,589 since yesterday, the total number of deaths has climbed to 96,318, with 776 deaths reported in the last 24 hours. In comparison, in USA, which has the highest number of COVID victims and where 2, 03,620 people have lost lives because of the pandemic, the total death toll in the last 24 hours was 291. The new cases (35,217) of COVID-19 in the US too were less than half of what was reported in India in the last 24 hours. Even Brazil, where the total number of deaths are more than India, the death figures in the last 24 hours (335 deaths) were less than half of the deaths in India during this period. In the last 24 hours, Brazil had registered just 14318 new cases.
ICMR Director General Prof. (Dr.) Balaram Bhargava said the risk in urban slums in India was twice than that in non-slum areas and four times than the risk in rural setting. DG, ICMR further said, there still existed a considerable section of susceptible people who were yet unexposed to SARS-Cov-2. Lockdown, containment and behavior change at population level have effectively checked potential spread of SARS-Cov-2, he claimed.
Bhushan said the country had achieved a capability of conducting 15 lakh tests per day. “The number of tests done depends on various factors including the intensity of infection spread in an area. Hence, on a day-on-day basis, number of tests may increase or decrease”, stated the Health Secretary. Stating these data, the Health Secretary reiterated the importance of social distancing and wearing a mask.
– globalbihari bureau
