NEW DELHI: Even as India on Tuesday recorded a three-month low in daily fresh Covid-19 cases, the Centre expressed worry at the rising case graph in some states such as West Bengal and Delhi. The rise, suggested officials, could be due to Dussehra and Durga Puja festivities which saw large gatherings.
The true impact of these celebrations, however, can be gauged only by coming two weeks, they added.
At a briefing on the Covid-19 situation, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said during the festive season, cases have increased in Kerala, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Delhi.
Around 58 per cent of the fresh COVID-19 deaths in the country were reported from Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka, he said, adding 49.4 per cent of the fresh coronavirus cases in the same period were reported from Kerala (4,287) West Bengal (4,121), Maharashtra (3,645), Karnataka (3,130) and Delhi (2,832), while 58% of the 488 deaths were reported from Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka.
He also said the health ministry is in contact with all these states and central teams have been sent there.
"A few teams have returned after completing the task allotted. After analysing their report further actions will be taken in formulating new strategies to be adopted for these states," Bhushan said.
Bhushan said the Centre will this week hold meetings with the five states witnessing rise in daily Covid graph.
The officials, however, added that there has been a continuous decline in average daily new Covid-19 deaths for the last five weeks. India’s case fatality rate has declined from 1.77% on September 1 to 1.50% on October 27, Bhushan said.
Top functionaries of the government also stressed that there was no room for complacency considering several other nations in Europe and the US are experiencing a worse second waves than the first one.
“We are fortunate that we are witnessing a decline except in few states. This is more worthy as other nations continue to see severe second peaks, but we have to work harder to protect the gains,” said Dr V K Paul, member (health), Niti Aayog.
This decline is particularly noteworthy because in other countries of the northern hemisphere there is a severe increase in the intensity of the pandemic, Paul added.
The pandemic has rebounded in several countries, largely in the northern hemisphere, and a third peak has hit the US, Paul said, adding, "Becoming a bit lax. slowing down surveillance and containment strategies also must be playing a role in this."
Stressing that the coronavirus pandemic is on a "downward trend and under control" in India, he warned that "we cannot become lax and have to stay vigilant".
Kerala, West Bengal and Delhi are proceeding towards a third peak.
This is a matter of concern and there can be no complacency in following COVID-19-appropriate behaviour as more challenges will emerge in the coming days, Paul said.
"More festivals are ahead and wherever we have faltered in the last few days, it will show in the coming 10 to 12 days."
Paul stressed on continuing with the test, track, trace and treat strategy.
"Looking for a super-spreading event in the case of an individual positive case is an important area of our work and we are learning that super-spreading events happen when we are together not only in very large numbers but also in medium numbers. So, super-spreading events must be avoided," he said.
Bhushan further said a continuous decline in average daily new coronavirus cases has been observed and the figure has come down from 83,232 between September 23 and 29 to 49,909 for October 21-27.
"When we observe the number of new COVID-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours, it is only 36,470. However, the number of tests conducted during this period has not come down. If even after doing 11 lakh tests per day on an average, there is a decline in daily new cases. It surely is a very positive sign. Our number of tests per million population is more than 75,600," he pointed out.
"India's COVID-19 case fatality rate has declined from 1.77 per cent on September 1 to 1.50 per cent as on date. The recovery rate has increased from 76.94 per cent on September 1 to 90.62 per cent as on date," the official said.
It should be specifically noted that many states and Union Territories have case fatality rate below the national average of 1.50 per cent.
There has also been a decline in average daily new deaths from 1,054 in September to 615 now, Bhushan said.
The health secretary said India has the highest COVID-19 recoveries in the world.
Also, the country's number of cases as well as deaths per million population were among the lowest, he added.
"It took us 57 days to register a recovery of 10 lakhs from 1 lakhs, whereas, the latest 10 lakh recoveries have been achieved in just 13 days which is also a satisfactory sign," Bhushan said.
To a question over the BJP's election manifesto promising free coronavirus vaccine for everyone in Bihar, Paul said state governments have been urged to take a national approach towards engaging with companies and deciding the criteria for COVID-19 vaccination.
"In order to deliver the vaccine to priority groups, to the extent that we can foresee, there is absolutely no problem in terms of resources," he said.
The recoveries in India have now crossed 72 lakh even as cases are above 79 lakh with the last 10 lakh recoveries registered in 13 days as against the first 10 lakh recoveries, which took 57 days.
Amid the growing concerns around air pollution in Delhi-NCR, ICMR chief Dr Balram Bhargava said that studies have proven that long-term exposure to air pollution is linked to an increased risk of dying from Covid-19.
“There have been studies from Europe and US, where they have looked at polluted areas and have compared mortality during lockdown and correlation with pollution. It is found that pollution is contributing to mortality in Covid, that’s well established by studies,” he said in reply to a query during the daily briefing.
(With PTI Inputs)