The whole country is potentially at risk, the government warned on Tuesday against the sudden spike in Covid cases. The Health Ministry, in a presser, said that the coronavirus situation in the country was going from "bad to worse". It is a huge cause for worry, the ministry said. It also urged all those states that are reporting a rise in Covid cases to ramp up testing with focus on RT-PCR, prompt isolation, contact tracing, and boosting healthcare resources.
WHAT HEALTH MINISTRY SAID
- COVID-19 situation going from bad to worse recently, it is huge cause for worry.
- Ramp up testing with focus on RT-PCR, isolate promptly, trace contact, boost healthcare resources: Govt to states with spike in COVID cases.
- We are facing an increasingly severe and intensive situation in some districts but the whole country is potentially at risk. All efforts to contain the virus and save lives should be taken.
- Punjab neither conducting adequate number of tests nor being able to promptly isolate COVID-19 positive people.
- Delhi, taken as one district, among top 10 COVID-19 high-burden districts. Eight such districts are from Maharashtra.
- 807 UK variants, 47 South African variants and 1 Brazilian variant have been found in India.
- The weekly national average positivity rate is 5.65%. Maharashtra has a weekly average of 23%, Punjab has a weekly average of 8.82%, Chhattisgarh 8%, Madhya Pradesh 7.82%, Tamil Nadu 2.50%, Karnataka 2.45%, Gujarat 2.2% & Delhi 2.04%.
- We spoke to representatives of these states. We told them why are they not increasing testing when cases are increasing. It's essential to increase testing with focus on RT-PCR tests. Rapid Antigen tests be used for screening tests in densely populated areas.
- We found that isolation isn't taking place in most states, people are being told to isolate at home. But it's to be monitored if they're actually doing it. If they can't, they must be quarantined institutionally. Delhi was able to bring numbers under control through it.
- Till date, we haven't received any specific request from Maharashtra Govt. In India, we do Universal Immunisation but even there we've not done door-to-door vaccination.
- From April 1 all people above 45 yrs of age will be eligible for vaccination. Advance appointments can be booked through cowin.gov.in. If you don't want to do this, you can go to your nearest vaccination centre after 3 pm & go for on-site registration.
- Those who want to go for on-site registration are requested to go to their nearest vaccination centre after 3 pm with any identity document. Usually people with Aadhaar Card & voter ID. But you can also produce bank passbook, passport, ration card.
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