Key points:
- According to Union Health Ministry, the presence of foreign mutant variants of Covid-19 in the country is low.
- Union Health Ministry has said that the situation of Coronavirus is going from bad to worse from the past few weeks, whole nation is potentially at risk.
On Tuesday, the Union Health Ministry has said that the situation of Coronavirus in the country is going from “bad to worse” over the past few weeks. The whole nation is potentially at risk.
Dr.V K Paul,the chairman of the National Expert Committee on Vaccine Administration, has said that,”Trends show the virus is still very active… just when we think we can control it, it sparks back… We are facing an increasingly severe and intensive situation in some districts but the whole country is potentially at risk. The virus needs to be eliminated.”
However, he denied that mutated strains have a role to play in this surge. He also denied there is an Indian variant of the virus.
“There is a concept of virus shift, drift and shift. There is no such thing as an Indian strain. It is not a cause to panic. Mutations are sporadic and not significant,” he said.
According to the Union Health Ministry, presence of foreign mutant variants of Covid 19 in India is low as out of the 11,064 genome samples sequenced only 807 cases of the UK variant, 47 of South African variant and one of the Brazilian variant have been detected so far.
Dr. Paul has said that,”We have taken pride that fatality has been low. But the death rate is now at four times — at 271 from 73. The virus needs to be eliminated. We want to emphasize that without contact tracing, quarantining, isolation etc. we cannot contain the virus.”
He added states have been told to enforce Covid-appropriate behaviour, including the use of masks and increased testing and tracking of patients. “Use the law, use fine as an option… people need to wear a mask,” he said.
Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary said that the state’s reporting higher cases are neither testing enough nor isolating infected persons in time. “The top 10 districts in India with active Covid-19 cases are Pune, Mumbai, Nagpur, Thane, Nashik, Aurangabad, Bengaluru Urban, Nanded, Delhi and Ahmednagar. Eight of the top 10 districts with active cases are in Maharashtra,” Mr Bhsuhan said. Maharashtra has 3.37 lakh active cases.
