There is a continued plateauing in daily new Covid 19 cases in as many as a dozen States over the last two weeks, but it not time to loosen the grip as it could cost the country hugely in the near future, a Health Ministry official said on Wednesday. These States and Union Territories witnessing a declining trend in daily cases are Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Jharkhand, Daman & Diu, Ladakh, Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar.

“In the case of infections, even a single day’s laxity may squander the efforts made to bring down coronavirus cases. That’s why there is a need to make continuous efforts towards containing the further spread,” said Lav Agarwal, who is a Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry.

India conducted 15,41,299 tests in the previous day, as per government data, as against 16.63 lakh tests done on Monday. On Sunday, total tests conducted were 15,04,698. The total number of tests done in Delhi in the last 24 hours to Wednesday stood at 79,491. On Tuesday, the number of tests stood at 74,654 as against 61,045 as of Monday.

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Vaccination numbers

Meanwhile, the government’s vaccination drive for the 18-44 age group began on May 1 and so far, 6,71,285 beneficiaries have received their first dose of Covid vaccine across 12 States, including, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and UP, the government said. Total number of vaccines administered across the country stood at 16,04,94,188 with 14,84,989 shots given in the last 24 hours to 8:00 am.

However, there are some States that are showing an unrelenting increase in the number of infections over the last two weeks. These 12 states showing increasing trends are Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Bihar, Haryana, Odisha, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir. Even in the north-eastern States, a rising trend has been observed, according to the government.

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Monitoring oxygen supply

On the shortage of oxygen, Agarwal said, there is an inter-ministerial committee looking at the deployment of aid received from foreign countries. Hindustan Lifecare Limited, PSU under the Health Ministry, is spearheading the efforts to collect materials received by air from other countries and its officials are stationed at airports so that the aid materials are segregated and dispatched to the States immediately, he said.

India reported record-high deaths on Wednesday due to Covid 19 infection. The daily death toll increased to 3,780 till 8:00 am and this is the eighth straight day when single day-deaths crossed the 3,000-mark, according to Health Ministry data. Meanwhile, the country registered more than 3 lakh daily Covid cases on the fourteenth straight day at 3,82,315. Cumulatively, total infections stood at 2,06,65,148 till 8:00 am on Wednesday, of which active cases were 34,87,229, numbers of those who recovered were 1,69,51,731 and the total deaths reported so far stood at 2,26,188.

Cracking down on hoarding

Separately, Minister of Chemicals & Fertilisers Sadananda Gowda reviewed the availability of drugs for Covid treatment and other essential drugs. According to an official statement, the Minister was informed that at present, there is adequate availability of medicines in the market and Department of Pharmaceuticals, National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority and Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation will continue to closely monitor their availability.

Regarding black marketing and hoarding, he was informed that State Drug Controllers have been instructed to make teams at State level for field inspections. Strict action is being taken against hoarding and black-marketing of drugs. A number of preventive and enforcement actions have been taken by DCGI/SDCs to stop hoarding/black marketing/overcharging of Covid management drugs like Remdesivir, Tocilizumab, Favipiravir, etc. By May 1, as many as 78 actions have been taken all over India, in coordination with SDCs, local police, FDA, etc, against hoarding, overcharging, black marketing, and arrests were made/cases were registered. Seizures of drugs, vehicles, empty vials (meant probably for making spurious drugs) and cash were made. In one case in Chandigarh, Remdesivir vials to the tune of 3,000 units were recovered, the Minister was told.

Source: Health Ministry

Till 8:00 am on Wednesday

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