Covid active case count crosses 2000, vaccine to be administered on all days

The number of active Covid-19 cases in Gurugram passed the grim mark of 2000 active cases once again to read 2,148 on Thursday, according to the state health bulletin

The number of active Covid-19 cases in Gurugram passed the grim mark of 2000 active cases once again to read 2,148 on Thursday, according to the state health bulletin. The last time it was so high was on December 14, 2020.

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To control the uptick, the district health department said Covid-19 vaccination camps will now be held everyday at government and private facilities throughout April following the union ministry of health and family welfare’s guidelines. The vaccinations will be held between 9am and 5pm.

The rising active cases is in keeping with the trend of rising caseloads across the country. Currently, Gurugram is among the 46 districts reporting sharp surge in cases.

The city had only 36 new cases and a total tally of 59,029 on March 1; but on April 1 there were 381 fresh cases and a total infection count of 63,394. One more death was reported from the city that took the toll count to 365.

The positivity rate, the number of positive cases among 100 tests, too increased to 7.9% on Thursday. In the last seven days, the average rate was 5.9%. According to the World Health Organization, a positivity rate of 5% or below for two straight weeks signalled that the infection was under control in the region. Gurugram health department officials said they were conducting around 5000 tests a day.

“As per the central government’s revised guidelines issued on Thursday, Covid-19 doses will be administered on all days, including gazette holidays in April. The decision has been taken to increase the pace and coverage of overall vaccination in order to control the spread of coronavirus infection,” said Dr MP Singh, district immunisation officer.

Earlier this week, taking cognizance of surge in Covid-19 cases the union ministry of health and family welfare directed districts with high case load and fast growth of cases to ensure 100% vaccination of the prioritized population group who were at least 45 years old.

Till now, doses were administered in government hospitals four times a week – Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday - at various urban primary health centres and sub-centres under it. Private hospitals committed to vaccinations from Monday to Saturday. In the last few days, the vaccination footfall remained low in private facilities compared to government set ups.

“Vaccination will be scaled up, with everyday inoculation of people above 45 years of age. It will be held throughout the month since vaccination will act as a shield in controlling the spike. It will be held in more than 100 sites every day to expand the coverage,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer.

According to him, testing has been increased to almost 5504 on Thursday. In various urban primary health centres queues were seen at testing booths. Also, teams have been doing home visits to collect samples from people returning from United Kingdom to trace cases of new Sars-CoV-2 variant.