'Next 3 months decisive in determining India Covid trajectory'

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan on Friday said that if we take adequate precaution and follow COVID appropriate behaviour in the upcoming festival and winter season, “we will be in a better position to fight corona.”

New Delhi: Asserting that next three months are going to be decisive in determining COVID-19 trajectory for India, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan on Friday said that if we take adequate precaution and follow COVID appropriate behaviour in the upcoming festival and winter season, “we will be in a better position to fight corona.”

Dr Vardhan said this while addressing a review meeting over COVID-19 preparedness with the Health and Medical Education Ministers and other senior officials of Uttar Pradesh.

He said that for a big state like Uttar Pradesh, it becomes important that maximum thrust is given to simple precautionary measures which are effective in preventing the Coronavirus to a large extent like wearing mask and face cover especially in public spaces, and following hand and respiratory etiquettes.

The Minister said that in the last three months, the country has seen significant improvement in COVID parameters.

“From recording over 95,000 cases in a day, the cases have been substantially reduced to less than 55,000 cases in a day. The Recovery Rate of India is nearing 90 percent. The Case Fatality Rate is also declining. CFR stands at 1.51 per cent and is moving towards the target of having CFR less than 1 per cent,” he said.

He said that the number of active cases is less than 7 lakh and the doubling rate has increased to 97.2 days at present.

“The journey which started from having just one lab, we have come a long way in now having nearly 2000 labs in the country. The number of total tests conducted across the country has surpassed 10 crores. This is a positive indication that we are moving in the right direction,” he said.

The Minister has said that Uttar Pradesh has a fatality rate of 1.46 which is less than the National Average. The Recovery Rate of the State (92.2 per cent) is also more than the national recovery rate.

Dr Vardhan stressed that the State needs to focus on increasing testing, surveillance, contact tracing, and early diagnosis to keep fatality rate low.