September and October crucial in pandemic management: Union govt
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Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Thursday warned that September and October would be crucial in pandemic management. Festivals must be celebrated with caution in accordance with Covid appropriate behaviour as the country is still in the middle of the second wave, the union government added.
Furthermore, vaccines are disease-modifying and not preventing, making it very important to continue the use of masks even after vaccination, ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava said.
"We are still in the midst of the second surge of COVID-19 in our country. The second surge has not yet concluded. It is not over and therefore, we have to maintain all necessary precautions, particularly in light of our experience that after every festival, we see a spike. The coming months of September and October are crucial for us because we would be celebrating a few festivals. Thus festivals have to be celebrated with Covid-appropriate behaviour," Bhargava said.
41 districts in India are reporting a COVID-19 weekly positivity rate of more than 10 per cent. Furthermore, 58.4 per cent of the total COVID-19 cases last week were reported from Kerala.
"Kerala is the only state reporting over 1 lakh active COVID-19 cases, while four states have 10,000 to 1 lakh active cases and 31 states have less than 10,000 active cases," it said.
Of the over 400 evacuated from Afghanistan, some have tested positive. Those infected have been isolated and are under treatment, the government informed.
As per the data of the union government, India's total covid tally is at 3,25,58,530, of which 3,33,725 are active cases. Active cases account for 1.03 per cent of the total infections. The total covid death toll stands at 4,36,365.
In the last 24 hours, 46,164 people tested positive, and 607 succumbed to COVID-19.