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NATION JUNE 17, 2022 | The Indian Eye 6

Covid-19 fourth wave? Govt. tells people not

to panic as cases and deaths rise again

India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage crossed the 1.94 billion mark on Thursday

OUR BUREAU total numbers for the country or not
that the rise is happening uniformly
New Delhi/Mumbai
across the country,” he further said.
ndia reported 7,584 new COVID He also stressed closely monitor-
cases on Thursday, more than 300 ing COVID-19 cases at the local or
Icases than a day earlier, according district level. He said, “Examining the
to the Ministry of Health and Family data carefully, where can we have rel-
Welfare on Friday. The active cases in evance local level or the district level
the country rose to 36,267 which stood every both is an important rather than
at 32,498 yesterday. The active cases extrapolating it over one state or the
are 0.08 per cent of the total caseload entire country.”
in the country. With 3,35,050 tests On the threat to the country for
conducted in the last 24 hours, the another variant, he said, “Threat can
daily positivity rate was observed to only be characterized once a new vari-
be 2.26 per cent. The weekly positivity ant is identified. So, whenever a new
rate was recorded to be 1.50 per cent. variant is observed, it is called a vari-
According to the health minis- ant of interest or variant under investi-
try, 3,791 COVID patients recovered gation and variant concern but not ev-
in the last 24 hours taking the total ery variant turned out to be a variant
number of recoveries from the disease of concern. The Variant of concern
since the onset of the pandemic to is the term used for a variant when it
4,26,44,092. The recovery rate stands Students show victory signs after receiving a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine during the inau- gets associated with rapid spread or
at 98.70 per cent. gural programme ‘Har Ghar Dastak 2.0’ campaign, in Guwahati (ANI) even the clinical severity of the disease
With the death of 24 COVID pa- caused by the variant of the virus is
tients during this period, the death toll more leading to increased hospital-
climbed to 5,24,747. ization or increased requirement of
Following a surge in COVID oxygen or increased requirement of
cases across the country, the Union the ventilator. So, nothing of that sort
Health Ministry is closely monitoring is being observed.”
the situation in the states like Maha- Meanwhile, India’s COVID-19
rashtra, Kerala, Delhi and Karnataka vaccination coverage has crossed the
and has asked them to follow the five- 194.74 crore (1.94 billion) mark on
fold strategy and ramp-up testing, said Thursday, the Ministry of Health and
official sources on Thursday. Family Welfare said on Thursday. The
The Ministry has also asked the government data added that more than
States to monitor clusters of new 13,28,975 vaccine doses have been ad-
COVID cases and follow COVID ap- ministered till 7 pm on Thursday. The
propriate behavior. Recently, Union vaccination exercise as a tool to pro-
Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan tect the most vulnerable population
wrote to the officials of five states, groups in the country from COVID-19
Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, continues to be regularly reviewed
Telangana and Tamil Nadu to closely and monitored at the highest level.
monitor emerging clusters, maintain Volunteers promoting awareness against COVID-19 during Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) The Union Government is com-
the adequate number of testing and World 10K, in Bengaluru (ANI) mitted to accelerating the pace and
send samples from infected individu- expanding the scope of COVID-19
als for genome sequencing. not help to analyses the data or look- making,” he added. vaccination throughout the country.
Panic does not serve as a COVID The nationwide COVID-19 vacci-
pandemic response or public health ing carefully to be so that’s why panic He stated, “The surge in the cas- nation started on January 16, 2021.
response as it does not help analy- doesn’t serve a purpose.” es doesn’t mean it’s reported from all The new phase of universalization of
ses the data, therefore, panic doesn’t “It is about examining the data over the country it’s from a few dis- COVID-19 vaccination commenced
serve any purpose, said Dr Samiran very carefully. So, if from a particular tricts.” on June 21, 2021.
Panda, Additional director-gener- site or from a district or a few districts “We are talking about 7,000 cases The vaccination drive has been
al of the Indian Council of Medical in the state upsurges or peak is being or a little more than this across India. ramped up through the availability of
Research (ICMR). In an interview, observed, then we need to look at the But that is not true, meaning it is a more vaccines, advance visibility of vac-
Panda said, “Panic does not serve as a number of tests conducted in that summation of the numbers of positive cine availability to States and UTs for
COVID pandemic response or public area. The local data needs to be exam- cases recorded from a few districts. So, enabling better planning by them and
health response because a panic does ined carefully for local-level decision that should not be considered as the streamlining of the vaccine supply chain.

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