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India's Covid-19 graph plateauing, but challenge not over yet: Govt
Kerala contributed 50 per cent of the total cases reported the entire last week, the government said in its pandemic-related briefing.
The government said on Thursday the country’s Covid-19 graph was plateauing even though about 20,000 fresh cases were being reported every day. It said the challenge of Covid-19 was not over yet and the effort to bring the pandemic under control was a continuous one.
“To some extent, we say that we haven't controlled the second wave of Covid-19. We need to make continuous efforts,” a senior government official said, adding that there was a need to remain alert over next few months.
“We need to be watchful of the months of October, November and December. We need to be alert,” said Lav Agarwal, joint secretary of the Union health ministry at the government's pandemic-related briefing.
Kerala contributed 50 per cent of the total cases reported the entire last week, Agarwal said. Besides Kerala, there were four other states that have over 10,000 active Covid-19 cases and these were Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram and Karnataka, he added.
He said there were 28 districts across 12 states and Union Territories that reported a weekly positivity rate between five and 10 per cent.
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These 28 districts include a few in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. “There are 34 districts which are reporting a weekly positivity rate of over 10 per cent,” Agarwal said.
The ministry, however, said the overall positivity rate was nearly at 1.68 per cent last week as compared to 5.86 per cent recorded earlier.
Also, Lakshadweep, Chandigarh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar and Sikkim have inoculated 100 per cent of its population with the first dose of vaccines against the virus, Agarwal added.
Niti Aayog member (health) Dr VK Paul said the government had adequately prepared against any oxygen-related crisis in future as he gave details of pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants that are operational in the country at the moment.
During the second wave of the pandemic, the country had suffered majorly due to a crisis of medical oxygen.
“At least 1,200 PSA plants are functional now. After the current program of establishing PSA plants, which is underway, there will be 4,000 PSA plants across the nation. This is our security against any oxygen constraints in future,” Dr Paul said.
His statement came hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated 35 PSA plants that are being set up across the 35 states and Union Territories.
