71 districts across India register more than 10% Covid-19 test positivity

The Health Ministry has identified that 13 districts in Arunachal Pradesh, 10 in Rajasthan, 9 in Andhra Pradesh, 8 in Meghalaya, 7 in Manipur, 4 each in Assam, Odisha, Tripura, 3 districts in Sikkim, 2 each in Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry, and 1 district each in Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Mizoram, Nagaland and West Bengal for reporting more than 10 per cent positivity between June 23 to 29.

New Delhi: Amid a decreasing trend of Covid-19 cases in India, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Friday said that 71 districts across India are having Covid-19 test positivity rate more than 10 per cent and called it "a matter of concern." "The second wave of the pandemic is not yet over. We have to take maximum precautions so that the infections do not spread," said Lav Agarwal, joint secretary in the Health Ministry in New Delhi.

The Health Ministry has identified that 13 districts in Arunachal Pradesh, 10 in Rajasthan, 9 in Andhra Pradesh, 8 in Meghalaya, 7 in Manipur, 4 each in Assam, Odisha, Tripura, 3 districts in Sikkim, 2 each in Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry, and 1 district each in Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Mizoram, Nagaland and West Bengal for reporting more than 10 per cent positivity between June 23 to 29.

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"All such districts witnessing more than 10 per cent positivity should enforce strict containment to control the situation," said Agarwal. While interacting with the reporters on the actions taken to control the pandemic, Agarwal said that the peak in the first wave was reported in September when the country registered 97,894 daily new cases whereas the peak in the second wave registered in May when the country witnessed 3,14,835 daily new cases in May.

"The number of daily new cases has now drastically come down to 60,471, which proves that strict containment can bring the situation under control," said Agarwal. India's active Covid cases have also witnessed a sharp decline from 5,52,659 to 5,09,637 in seven days. The recovery rate in India as on Thursday is 97 per cent. Referring to the vaccination issue, Agarwal said that when the mega vaccination drive started in India in January, 2.35 lakh vaccination took place per day. "The number went up to 3.77 lakh vaccination per day in February, 16.39 lakh in March, 29.96 lakh in April, 19.69 lakh in May and 39.89 lakh in June," added Agarwal.

Read:|Centre writes to States to keep Covid positivity below 10 percent

He said that India till date administered 34.01 crore vaccines that include 1.74 crore health care workers, 2.71 crore frontline workers, 19.91 crore population aged 45 years and above and 9.65 crore population aged 14-44 years. "There are 2,19,050 Covid vaccination centres across India with 10 lakh vaccinator officers and other team members have been trained since January 16," informed Agarwal.

Referring to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr VK Paul, chairman of the national task force on Covid-19 and a member of Niti Ayog said that the second wave is still not over. "We can not lower our guard. Many of the European countries had lower their guard and now they are again witnessing a spike," said Dr Paul. He emphasised that people should take a vaccine. Referring to a study done by PGI, Chandigarh, Dr Paul said that out of 4,648 police personnel who did not take a vaccine, 15 of them died, which is 3.08 persons per thousand population.

Read:|513 districts in India are reporting less than 5 per cent positivity rate: Health Ministry

"As many as 35,856 police officials who took the first dose, 9 have lost their lives and 42,720 officials who took two doses of the vaccine, only 2 people have died," said Dr Paul. The single dose gives 92 per cent protection and the double dose give 98 per cent protection. He said that the government is ready to fight any possible third wave and at the same time "we should ensure that we follow all social protocol to avert the third wave."

Dr Paul further informed that talks are underway with Johnson and Johnson for their single-dose vaccine. "Our talks and paper works are going on. Let's see when it materialise...most likely manufacturing units of Bio E will produce J&J vaccines," Dr Paul said.