Saturday, 03 April 2021 | PNS | New Delhi
88,641 new infections, 711 fatalities in last 24 hours
India has for the first time overtaken the US in registering the second-highest daily Covid-19 cases in the world as it reported 88,641 new infections, and 711 fatalities in the last 24 hours, taking the caseload to above 1.23 crore and 1,64,139 deaths.
The Government took exception that the 11 States —Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Haryana — have not suitably enforced containment activities and there was a need to use the Police Act, Disaster Management Act, and other legal and administrative provisions for imposing penalties on defaulters to curb the surge in cases.
According to the Health Ministry, these 11 States have contributed 90 per cent of Covid cases, 90.5 per cent of deaths in 14 days till March 31, and have crossed or close to crossing their early reported peaks last year.
The highest jump in cases came on the day India widened its vaccination ambit to cover those above 45 with more than 36.7 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses being administered, the highest single-day coverage till now. The cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in India has crossed 6.87 crore, according to the Union Health Ministry.
In view of the rising coronavirus cases in the country, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Friday chaired a high-level review meeting with focus on 11 such States/UTs, which are reporting a high rise in daily cases and daily mortality because of Covid-19 in the last two weeks.
The officials expressed concern that Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities along with peri-urban areas have recorded recent high rise in cases with the infection spreading from these areas to the rural areas which could overwhelm the weak health infrastructure.
As per the meeting, Maharashtra, Punjab and Chhattisgarh were among 11 States to be categorised as “States of grave concern” due to high and rising daily cases and higher daily deaths.
These have contributed 90 per cent of Covid cases (as of 31st March) and 90.5 per cent of deaths (as of 31st March) in the last 14 days, the Ministry said in a statement.
The 11 States have crossed/or close to crossing their early reported peaks during last year. “The situation is particularly worrying in Maharashtra. They were advised to take up immediate and high effective measures to ensure containment of active cases and daily deaths,” the Health Ministry added.
“They were advised to take up immediate and high effective measures to ensure containment of active cases and daily deaths through adherence to the standard Clinical Management Protocol shared earlier with all States and UTs,” the statement said.
Taking note of the present situation due to the continuous deterioration of the Covid scenario over the fortnight, the Cabinet Secretary pointed out that the current Covid case growth rate of 6.8 per cent in March 2021 has surpassed the previous record of 5.5 per cent (June 2020). The country also reported 5.5 per cent growth rate in daily Covid deaths in this period.
“While the country was reporting about 97,000 daily new Covid cases at the peak of the pandemic in September 2020, the country has now reached the critical figure of 81,000 daily new cases of Covid,” the statement further added.
In the meeting, senior Government health official and member of Niti Aayog, VK Paul emphasised on need for States to follow a protocol for sharing clinical and epidemiological data for more detailed study of mutant strain of virus for genome sequencing while the Union Home Secretary pointed out that the 11 States and UTs that are showing a surge in daily Covid cases have not shown commensurate increase in enforcement of containment activities.
The States have been asked to increase testing continuously to ensure that positivity comes down to 5 per cent or less than 5 per cent with focus on ensuring RT-PCR tests. Reduce waiting time of test results with regular review with testing labs, Use Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) as screening test in densely populated areas and where fresh clusters are emerging, all symptomatic RAT negatives to be mandatorily subjected to RT-PCR tests, were some of the suggestions given to the States.
The need to formulate District Action Plans with a focus on mapping of cases, reviewing of ward/block wise indicators, 24X7 Emergency Operations Centre, Incident Command System (Area Specific Rapid Response Team and Timely Sharing of information) was stressed upon.
The States have been asked to focus on strengthening public and private healthcare resources such as isolation beds, oxygen beds, ventilators/ICU beds as per requirement and strengthening ambulance service.
India’s average daily coronavirus infections has surged to 65,211, while that of the US stood at 64,814, according to the Johns Hopkins University. Brazil leads the chart with average daily coronavirus infections at 75,534.
