Staff Reporter
Union Health Ministry has said that a consistent decline in daily active cases of Covid -19 and further improvement in recovery from infection is being noticed in the country.
Addressing media in New Delhi on Friday, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said that continuous decline in daily cases is being noticed since India reported a peak with nearly four lakh 14 thousand cases on 7th May. He said, in the last 24 hours only 38 thousand 949 cases of corona infection were reported.
Mr Agarwal also informed that till 4th of May, there were 531 districts in the country which were reporting over 100 cases daily, now the number has come down to 73 districts. He also informed that till 10th May there were 37 lakh active cases in the country and after that a continuous decline in such cases were noticed and now it has come down to the level of 4 lakh 30 thousand.
On recovery rate from the infection, Mr Agarwal said that the country is also witnessing a consistent increase in recovery rate. He said, on 12th May, the overall recovery rate was 83 per cent and now it has reached the mark of 97.3 per cent.
On testing of samples, there is continued focus on testing while a sharp decline in cases is being observed. He said, currently on average 18 lakh tests of COVID -19 is being conducted on a daily basis as the cases are on a decline.
He said, there are 47 districts in cluding 9 in Manipur and 8 in Kerala which are reporting more than 10 per cent positivity. He said, in these districts ramping up of testing and strict containment measures are required.
NITI Aayog, Member Health Dr V K Paul said that a study conducted by Indian Council of Medical Research about vaccine effectiveness on high risk police personnel suggested that two doses of vaccine were successful in preventing 95 per cent deaths due to Covid-19 in second wave driven by Delta variant. During media briefing, Dr Paul said that the study was conducted on one lakh 17 thousand 524 police personnel in Tamil Nadu.
He informed that out of them, there were 17 thousand 59 police personnel who had not received vaccine and among them 20 deaths were reported due to Covid-19 while 7 deaths were reported among 32 thousand 792 personnel who have been administered single dose of vaccine and only four deaths were reported in 67 thousand 673 police personnel who had taken both the doses.
Dr Paul said that this shows that the vaccines are effective and are very safe. He said, the pregnant and lactating women and patients suffering from diabetes and cancer should receive vaccine