COVID cases spike: Maharashtra, Kerala, TN among ‘states of concern’
As COVID cases continue to mount, the Centre on Thursday (January 20) declared Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh among the ‘States of Concern’.
On Thursday, Kerala and Karnataka reported 40,000 fresh infections.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the Health Ministry has dispatched teams to these states and the situation is being reviewed.
“Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, UP, Gujarat, Odisha, Delhi & Rajasthan are among the top 10 states in terms of active cases,” Bhushan said.
India reported 3,17,532 new cases in the last 24 hours reported at 9 am on Thursday (January 20) and 380 deaths. The rise in infections on Thursday is the highest in 249 days, taking the total tally of Covid-19 cases to 3,82,18,773, which includes 9,287 cases of the Omicron variant, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.
The active cases rose to 19,24,051, the highest in 234 days, while the death toll climbed to 4,87,693 with 491 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated. There has been a 3.63 per cent increase in Omicron cases since Wednesday, the ministry said. Experts said it is not possible to undertake genome sequencing of each and every sample but stressed that the current wave is largely being driven by Omicron.
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India’s active caseload currently stands at 19,24,051, which is 5.03% of the total cases. The recovery rate currently stands at 93.69%. The country reported 2,23,990 recoveries in the last 24 hours, which has increased total recoveries to 3,58,07,029. Omicron case count is 9,287, an increase of 3.63% since Wednesday.
India’s test positivity rate is 16.41% and weekly positivity rate is 16.06%, but Maharashtra’s test positivity rate (TPR) was 22 per cent. Kerala’s TPR is an astonishing 32% while that of Delhi is 30%. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka reported TPR of 20 per cent and 15 per cent respectively. Uttar Pradesh, which is gearing up for assembly polls in February, has a test positivity rate of 6 per cent.
Meanwhile, schools across Maharashtra will reopen for students of classes 1-12 on Monday after closing due to the Omicron-fuelled third wave. This comes after the recent COVID surge in the state began to show signs of plateauing this week.
Also, bed occupancy or hospitalisation is much lower in third wave when compared to the second wave last year. DG-ICMR Dr Balram Bhargava said the fall in deaths is mainly due to increased vaccination. In India, 72% people are fully vaccinated. Till now, 52% of children in the 15-18 age group in India are vaccinated.
