MARCH 29, 2021
A health worker collects a swab sample from a bus passenger for Covid-19 test during a special testing camp at Anand Vihar bus terminal, on March 26, 2021 in New Delhi, India. And the latest data shows that India has shown biggest jump in weekly cases of Covid-19 in the past week. – Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
The festival of Holi usually brings with it cheer and joy. But this year, it has come at a time when the country is in the grip of a second wave of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
On Sunday, India’s tally of Covid-19 went up by 68,204 crossing the 12 million-mark. This is the highest daily spike since October 10 last year. The seven-day average of new cases in India stood at 56,201, the highest since October 21.
In the week ending March 21, the Union health ministry data showed that the country’s daily caseload increased from 24,492 to 46,951, signalling that it is in the grip of a second wave. The weekly total of the cases stood at 2,60,742. In the following week (March 22-28), the spread of the infection became even more rapid, with the daily caseload breaching the 60,000-mark and nearing the 70,000 mark on Sunday. The last week’s total comes to 3,93,747.
This shows that last week’s numbers are 1.33 lakh higher than the previous seven-day period. From ebbing in the month of February, the Covid-19 infection has seen rapid rise in the month of March and the last week saw its worst spread since the beginning of the pandemic.
The active cases also crossed the half million mark again on Sunday, after a gap of more than four months. The country added more than 1,78,000 active cases of the infection in the past week, the highest ever for any week since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country in March last year. The active case tally stands at 5,23,550.
The current wave is due to a surge in worst-affected Maharashtra and seven other states and union territories. According to health ministry, these eight states and UTs have a weekly positivity rate of Covid-19 infection higher than the national average of 5.04 per cent. Maharashtra has the highest positivity rate of 22.78 per cent.
The other seven states and UTs with higher positivity rate than national average are Chandigarh (11.85 per cent), Punjab (8.45 per cent), Goa (7.03 per cent), Puducherry (6.85 per cent), Chhattisgarh (6.79 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (6.65 per cent) and Haryana (5.41 per cent).
Seven states of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have reported high number of daily new cases of Covid-19, according to health ministry. These states account for 81.46 per cent of the daily new cases registered in the last 24 hours, it further said.
Meanwhile, the total tests for Covid-19 conducted across India have exceeded 24 crore while the cumulative positivity rate continues to remain below 5 per cent, the ministry said in a statement. Experts have, however, said that testing needs to be increased, especially in the wake of festival season.
Follow the government’s latest guidance on safeguarding yourself during the coronavirus pandemic, including travel advice within and outside the country. The World Health Organization has also busted some myths surrounding coronavirus. The Ministry of Health’s special helpline is available at +91-11-23978046, ncov2019@gmail.com and ncov2019@gov.in.
Courtesy/Source: Hindustan Times
