COVID-19 curve bending downwards, but 8 states still cause of concern: Govt
The health ministry also said that current dominant Omicron variant of COVID-19 has less severe symptoms and lesser hospitalisation numbers.
- Feb 3, 2022,
- Updated Feb 3, 2022 10:22 PM IST
India's COVID-19 infection curve in the country is bending downwards, but over eight states continue to have high active caseload, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday.
"There is a decline in COVID-19 cases reported in the country. There are 15,33,921 active cases as of today," said Lav Agarwal, joint secretary at health ministry in a routine health briefing in New Delhi, adding that India reported a peak of 3,47,254 cases on 21 January, which is less than the previous peak of 4,14,188.
The government also said although there has been a drop in the number of states reporting more than 50,000 active COVID-19 cases, eight states, including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Kerala are still a cause of worry.
"Kerala having more than 50,000 active cases is the only one that has recorded a surge in infection rate. If we look at the week-on-week basis number of cases in Kerala, the state has reported a surge of 1.26 times," said Agarwal adding that the other seven states Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh have shown a consistent decrease the caseload.
Further, Tamil Nadu's number of active cases has dropped by 0.83 times to 177,999 from 213,692 a week before. Similarly, Karnataka and Maharashtra, reported a decline by 0.50 and 0.59 times, respectively.
The health ministry also said that current dominant Omicron variant of COVID-19 has less severe symptoms and lesser hospitalisation numbers. According to the government data, there are younger inpatients i.e. 44 years versus 55 years earlier in the Delta-driven COVID-19 wave.
When co-morbidities are compared, 46 per cent are now comorbid while in the Delta wave the percentage of comorbid people was 66 per cent, the government informed..
"All symptoms are in lesser proportions. We have mainly seen sore throat, which is 29 per cent in this wave compared to 16 per cent earlier. There is a significantly lesser use of drugs in this wave. We have also noted significantly improved outcomes. Complications are and lesser Death rate is 10 per cent (with 91per cent comorbidities) which was 22 per centin the earlier wave (83 per cent comorbidities). This shows that vaccination has been highly effective in preventing the severe disease," said Balram Bhargava, director general of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Besides this, the government, citing national and international data, said unlike the evidence during earlier surge, with the current variant Omicron, surgeries are safe and not associated with higher chances of complications or deaths in COVID-19 positive patients.
"Omicron is the dominant variant which is circulating in India currently. With the data available in the country patients who need surgery need not be denied surgical intervention presently," Bhargava said.
On the vaccination front, the government data showed that over 89.73 crore (96 per cent) people above the age of 18 have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and over 71.80 crore (76 per cent) people have been fully vaccinated. Over 1.35 crore people have also received precaution doses.
According to the government data, more than 167.88 crore total doses have been administered so far. Besides this, Agarwal also added, "India is witnessing a consistent decrease in daily new cases in the last 14 days. The number of daily active cases is also decreasing rapidly."
Meanwhile, India logged over 1,72,433 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. The country's weekly positivity rate is presently at 12.98 per cent.
Also read: COVID-19: New Zealand to end quarantine stays and reopen its borders
Also read: COVID-19 update: Districts with less than 5% positivity rate can reopen schools
India's COVID-19 infection curve in the country is bending downwards, but over eight states continue to have high active caseload, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday.
"There is a decline in COVID-19 cases reported in the country. There are 15,33,921 active cases as of today," said Lav Agarwal, joint secretary at health ministry in a routine health briefing in New Delhi, adding that India reported a peak of 3,47,254 cases on 21 January, which is less than the previous peak of 4,14,188.
The government also said although there has been a drop in the number of states reporting more than 50,000 active COVID-19 cases, eight states, including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Kerala are still a cause of worry.
"Kerala having more than 50,000 active cases is the only one that has recorded a surge in infection rate. If we look at the week-on-week basis number of cases in Kerala, the state has reported a surge of 1.26 times," said Agarwal adding that the other seven states Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh have shown a consistent decrease the caseload.
Further, Tamil Nadu's number of active cases has dropped by 0.83 times to 177,999 from 213,692 a week before. Similarly, Karnataka and Maharashtra, reported a decline by 0.50 and 0.59 times, respectively.
The health ministry also said that current dominant Omicron variant of COVID-19 has less severe symptoms and lesser hospitalisation numbers. According to the government data, there are younger inpatients i.e. 44 years versus 55 years earlier in the Delta-driven COVID-19 wave.
When co-morbidities are compared, 46 per cent are now comorbid while in the Delta wave the percentage of comorbid people was 66 per cent, the government informed..
"All symptoms are in lesser proportions. We have mainly seen sore throat, which is 29 per cent in this wave compared to 16 per cent earlier. There is a significantly lesser use of drugs in this wave. We have also noted significantly improved outcomes. Complications are and lesser Death rate is 10 per cent (with 91per cent comorbidities) which was 22 per centin the earlier wave (83 per cent comorbidities). This shows that vaccination has been highly effective in preventing the severe disease," said Balram Bhargava, director general of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Besides this, the government, citing national and international data, said unlike the evidence during earlier surge, with the current variant Omicron, surgeries are safe and not associated with higher chances of complications or deaths in COVID-19 positive patients.
"Omicron is the dominant variant which is circulating in India currently. With the data available in the country patients who need surgery need not be denied surgical intervention presently," Bhargava said.
On the vaccination front, the government data showed that over 89.73 crore (96 per cent) people above the age of 18 have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and over 71.80 crore (76 per cent) people have been fully vaccinated. Over 1.35 crore people have also received precaution doses.
According to the government data, more than 167.88 crore total doses have been administered so far. Besides this, Agarwal also added, "India is witnessing a consistent decrease in daily new cases in the last 14 days. The number of daily active cases is also decreasing rapidly."
Meanwhile, India logged over 1,72,433 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. The country's weekly positivity rate is presently at 12.98 per cent.
Also read: COVID-19: New Zealand to end quarantine stays and reopen its borders
Also read: COVID-19 update: Districts with less than 5% positivity rate can reopen schools