Around 64 per cent of Covid deaths in Delhi occurred among unvaccinated: Health Ministry 

Nearly 64 per cent of the Covid-19 deaths in Delhi, occurred among unvaccinated and those with comorbid conditions, Dr SK Singh, Director at National Center for Disease Control said Thursday during the press conference here. He added that the unvaccinated and people with comorbid conditions form a very high-risk group at present. 

Singh stated that the Delta variant is still a predominant strain in some States like Odisha, West Bengal, and Maharashtra. “It is not that everywhere we are finding only Omicron cases, we are also witnessing Delta variant infections at many places including Delhi. In severity and hospitalization cases, we can also find delta,” he said. 

On Friday, Delhi reported 4,291 cases with 34 deaths till late in the evening on Thursday, with the daily positivity at 9.56 per cent. In Mumbai, the infections stood at 1,384 with 12 deaths. According to the Health Ministry, there are 11 States which have more than 50,000 active cases including Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat. 400 districts in India reporting more than 10 per cent weekly positivity in the week ending January 26.

“In January, 9,672 Omicron samples were found in genome sequencing which is 75 per cent of the total sequenced samples of Covid19.In December the Omicron sequences were 1,292 and those of AY series and Delta variant were 17,272,” Singh said while further adding that the sub-lineages of Omicron - BA.1 and BA.2 were found in sequenced samples. He informed that the BA.3 sublineage has not been found yet and the BA.3 is quite prevalent in the community. 

Vaccines remain beneficial for India, Balram Bhargava, Director General at the Indian Council of Medical Research said. He added that the vaccines show the ability to reduce death considerably if compared with unvaccinated people. 

“It is one of the most important weapons we have against death. People with comorbidities should be more careful and avoid large gatherings as the outcome of the infection in them is not good,” Bhargava added. India has reached 95 per cent of the first dose, and 74 per cent of the fully vaccinated adult population in the country, but there are certain states which need to pick up in terms of vaccination. 

Meanwhile, a senior Government official told BusinessLine that the Government is considering options to make below 60 years with comorbid conditions eligible for precautionary dose.

“People with comorbid conditions need to get both the doses and they should continue with their medicines. We are looking at the option of including those below 60 years for the third dose,” the official said. He further added that the Government is also looking at the vaccination for those younger children too. 

Meanwhile, there is no discussion as to whether booster doses should be given or not, said Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry.

Also, Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla in a letter to the States/UTs said the active cases in the country have reached 22 lakh in the current wave. It is a matter of concern that 407 districts in 34 States are showing a positivity rate of over 10 per cent, he said while urging them to exercise caution and vigilance. 

“Imposition and lifting of local curbs and restrictions should be dynamic and should be based on the case positivity and hospitalization status at the local level,” Bhalla added.

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