Covid Cases Have Plateaued in Some States, Over 90% Patients in Home Isolation: Centre

The Union Health Ministry on Thursday said that as per early indication, Covid-19 cases are plateauing in certain geographies, adding that the trend needs to be observed and required precautions need to be maintained. The ministry further said that over 90 per cent of the active cases are under home isolation, indicating mild to moderate clinical severity of the disease.

Eleven states have over 50,000 active Covid-19 cases with Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala reporting over three lakh active infections.

Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan are recording high cases and increasing positivity rate. Meanwhile, Maharashtra, UP, Delhi, Odisha, Haryana and West Bengal are reporting a decline in cases and positivity rate.

While 11 states have over 50,000 active Covid-19 cases, states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala have over 3 lakh active infections. The top 10 states in terms of active cases contribute to more than 77 per cent of the total active cases in the country, the ministry said.

More than 90 per cent of the active cases are under home isolation, indicating mild to moderate clinical severity of the disease. A clear trend in terms of lower cases needing oxygen supported beds or ICU beds has been observed.

Second Wave vs Third Wave

The ministry gave the figures after comparison data of Covid-19 cases in India during the second and the ongoing third wave.

Comparison of the key indices between the last two waves showed Covid-19 cases peaked on May 7 2021 and India reported a total of 4,14,188 new cases and 3,679 deaths. A total of 17,40,446 tests were reported to be carried out on the day and approximately 3 percent of the adult population were fully vaccinated.

Whereas, on January 21, 2022, a total of 3,47,254 new Covid-19 cases and 435 deaths were reported. A total of 19,35,912 tests were conducted and 75 per cent of the population have been fully vaccinated.

The active case numbers and corresponding deaths are much lower during the present surge vis-à vis the earlier wave, the ministry observed.

Vaccination has helped in terms of lesser number of infections, hospitalizations, the severity of the cases being reported in the country.

Director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research Balram Bhargava said, states where vaccination is low needs to ramp up. “People with comobidities need to be more careful,” he warned.

The Director of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Sujeet Singh said 9,672 Omicron variant cases have been detected in India and 1,578 delta variant cases were detected after sequencing.

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