At COVID-19 GoM meeting, Harsh Vardhan advises caution as states begin calibrated unlocking

New Delhi [India], June 28 : Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan has strongly reiterated the importance of COVID appropriate behaviour as states unlock in a calibrated manner after a significant decline in active coronavirus cases as well as a steady increasing recovery rate.
Addressing the 29th meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on COVID-19 situation in the country, which he chaired, Dr Vadhan on Monday gave a snapshot of India's efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic at the outset.
"In the last 24 hours we have had only 46,148 cases making the active caseload decline significantly to 5,72,994 in the country. The recovery rate has been steadily increasing and stands at 96.80 per cent today. 58,578 recoveries were registered in the last 24 hours," Vardhan said.
The Union minister pointed out that "Today is the 46th day in succession where our daily recoveries outnumbered new cases. Our case fatality rate has been 1.30 per cent, daily positivity rate at 2.94 per cent and weekly positivity rate also stands at 2.94 per cent which has been consistently below 5 per cent for 21 days now."
The GOM also highlighted higher level of continued awareness building through sustained IEC campaigns. Dr Vinod K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog who attended the meeting virtually emphasized on the benefits of mask wearing and hand hygiene.
The Group of Ministers placed on record its appreciation for all those who have worked tirelessly for COVID management, and for ramping up the coverage and speed of COVID vaccination across the country.
Speaking on COVID19 Vaccination drive, the union health minister said: "India has achieved another milestone in COVID-19 vaccination and has overtaken USA in total number of Covid Vaccine doses administered so far. USA started vaccinating against COVID from 14 December 2020 whereas the drive was launched in India on 16th Jan 2021. Under the new policy of COVID Vaccination, the Union Government is procuring and supplying (free of cost) 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the vaccine manufacturers in the country to States and UTs. Till today morning (8am), we have administered 32,36,63,297 vaccine doses to our countrymen in various categories."
"These include 1,01,98,257 Healthcare Workers (HCWs) who have taken the 1st dose and 72,07,617 HCWs who have taken the 2nd dose, 1,74,42,767 Frontline Workers (FLWs) (1st dose), 93,99,319 FLWs (2nd dose), and 8,46,51,696 for 18-44 years of age group (1st dose) and 19,01,190 for 2nd dose. 8,71,11,445 for over 45 years old to 60 years old (1st Dose), 1,48,12,349 for over 45 years old to 60 years old (2nd dose), 6,75,29,713 for above 60 years (1st Dose) and 2,34,08,944 for above 60 years (2nd Dose)," he added.
He also apprised the GOM members on the trajectory of Mucormycosis infections that have occurred in this phase of COVID-19. Total of 40,845 cases has been reported of which 31,344 cases are rhinocerebral in nature.
Fatality from the infections stands at 3,129. Of the total numbers, 34,940 patients had COVID (85.5 per cent), 26,187 (about 64.11 per cent) were co-morbid for diabetes while 21,523 (52.69 per cent) of those infected were on steroids. 13,083 patients were in the age group 18-45 (32 per cent), 17,464 were in the age group 45-60 (42 per cent) while 10,082 (24 per cent) patients were 60+ years of age.
Dr. Balram Bhargava, Secretary (Health Research) & DG (ICMR) also cautioned that the second wave of COVID-19 has still not subsided as 80 districts in the country still have high positivity. He advised against any laxity at this stage. He also explained that vaccines have been found effective against the alpha, beta, gamma and delta variants of COVID-19.
Dr. Sujeet K Singh, Director (NCDC) presented a detailed report on the trajectory of COVID in the States and UTs. He presented a granular analysis based on epidemiological findings of the trajectory of the pandemic in each state pointing out critical parameters like growth of cases, concentration of cases in particular districts and other trends like fatality and the variants of COVID-19 driving the infection in the affected states.
Active cases continue to be concentrated mainly in Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Odisha which are reporting growth rate more than the national COVID Growth Rate. While 19 states are reporting fatality figures in single digit (less than 10), four states of Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are reporting more than hundred deaths daily.
Neerja Sekhar, Additional Secretary, Information and Broadcasting apprised the GoM on how issues like vaccine hesitancy are being addressed through different mediums.
The meeting was held via video-conference, here today and Hardeep S Puri, Minister of Civil Aviation; Nityanand Rai, Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State, Health and Family Welfare were present.
Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary (Health); Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Foreign Secretary; S. Aparna, Secretary (Pharma), Dr. Blram Bhargava, Secretary (Health Research) and DG (ICMR); Ajay Seth, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs; Apurva Chandra, Secretary (Labour); Vikash Sheel, Addl. Secretary (Health); Rakesh Sanwal, Addl. Secretary, NITI Aayog; Neerja Sekhar, Addl. Secretary, Information and Broadcasting; Dr Sunil Kumar, DGHS (MoHFW); Dr Sujeeet K. Singh, Director, NCDC; representatives of Armed Forces (Armed Forces Medical Service), ITBP and other senior government officials participated through video conference.