Experts caution on possible spike of COVID cases as metro services resume

As metro services resumed from Monday, experts in the health department are of the opinion that India may witness a major spike in coronavirus cases. As on Monday, the US with 62,77,947 COVID positive cases is leading the list of countries followed by India and Brazil.

New Delhi: As India surpassed Brazil in terms of COVID cases with a total of 42,04,613, experts in the health domain told ETV Bharat on Monday that COVID cases in India may witness a major spike as the government has resumed metro rail service across the country.

Dr Giridhar Gyani, a member of the national task force on COVID-19 and director-general of Association of Health Care Providers-India said that metro biggies could be a source of spread due to aerosols.

Studies suggest that very small droplets (aerosols) are able to stay in the air for longer periods of time in smaller and congested areas.

"Although there is a possible risk of spreading of the infection, I believe the several initiatives taken by the government will work against the disease," said Dr Gyani.

With all health precautions, metro rail services across India were resumed in a graded manner from Monday.

As on Monday, the US with 62,77,947 COVID positive cases is leading the list of countries followed by India and Brazil.

Dr Gyani said that as India has increased COVID-19 testing, the number of positive cases are increasing accordingly.

"There is an anticipation that the number will increase more in the coming days," said Dr Gyani.

Although the population of America is one-third of India, the number of their COVID cases are also high because they are doing extensive testing, he said.

Amid reports that India at present is witnessing the second COVID wave, Dr Gyani said that the spike in positive cases has raised concern over the situation.

"It's also difficult to say at this point of time by when the flattening of the curve will take place," said Dr Gyani.

As on Monday, India has done nearly five crore COVID tests with 1.33 crore tests conducted in the last 2 weeks.

With a total of 32.5 lakh recoveries, India's recovery rate touched 77.31 per cent. India's COVID fatality rate stands at 1.70 per cent with 71,642 deaths reported till date.

Significantly, five states including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh are contributing 60 per cent of the total COVID cases with Maharashtra recording the highest of 21.6 per cent.

In a related development, India has been examining the details of Russian COVID-19 vaccine (SputnikV) after the modalities were formally given to India.

Apart from meeting several top government officials, the Russian ambassador to India Nikolay Kudashev recently met secretary in the department of biotechnology Dr Renu Swarup.

"The Russian ambassador also briefed in detail about Sputnik V to the secretary," a government official said.

Meanwhile, a parliamentary panel committee on health and family welfare also discussed the outbreak of the pandemic and related contingent and mitigation plan in its meeting held at the Parliament Annexe.