The situation in many States that are witnessing a Covid resurgence is “scary and intensive”, NITI Aayog Member (Health), Vinod Paul, said on Tuesday, adding that the country as a whole is seeing a seven-fold increase in daily cases and four-fold increase in deaths as compared to early February.

“If we do not adopt Covid-19 appropriate behaviour, the virus will chase us rather than the other way around,” Paul said and remarked that the pandemic will not end unless every village, city and district are rid of the virus.

Covid-19 precautions, appropriate behaviour should not be relaxed: NITI Aayog member

‘Test more with RT-PCR’

Addressing a press briefing, where Paul was also present, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan elaborated on the grim Covid-19 situation in the country, particularly in those States that are in the grip of yet another surge. He seemed particularly concerned about Maharashtra, which was reporting positivity rate of nearly 23 per cent. Other States like Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat have a positivity rate of between 8 and 9 per cent.

Bhushan asked the State to test more with RT-PCR and trace all close contacts of the infected people within 72 hours and urged the States to take all measures deemed appropriate to contain the situation. He wanted more than 70 per cent of all tests to be RT-PCR.

From April 1, all above 45 can get Covid vaccine

The number of average daily cases in Maharashtra in the second week of February was around 3,000, which has now gone up to a daily average of 34,456 this week. During the same period, daily deaths have increased from 32 to 118, said Bhushan. In Punjab, daily cases increased from 240 to 2,742 and daily deaths from 8 to 52 between early February and end March, he said.

The incidence and deaths are similarly high in six other States, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Delhi, as well. Barring Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, all these States reported close to 10-fold increase in daily cases.

Paul said wearing mask is as effective as taking a vaccine as it is 70 per cent effective in preventing an infection. He also pleaded with everyone who falls in the appropriate age bracket to embrace the vaccine.

‘Vaccines effective against variants’

Director-General of Indian Council of Medical Research, Balram Bhargava, allayed concerns on whether the vaccines Covishield and Covaxin are effective against the variants. Both the vaccines are seen to be effective against UK and Brazilian variants while the tests are on-going to see their effectiveness against South African mutant. Out of 11,064 samples subjected to genomic analysis, 807 were found to be the UK mutant, 47 South African and one Brazilian, in the country.

Reiterating the importance of vaccination on the eve of it getting opened to those above 45, Bhargava said it can prevent not only deaths but also serious disease. He also explained the logic behind extending vaccination to all people above 45; the ICMR chief said they accounted for 88 per cent of all Covid-19 deaths reported in the country so far.

Answering a question, Bhushan said the Centre has not received a request for allowing door-to-door vaccination from Maharashtra but that may not be an ideal way to achieve near saturation in the vaccination campaign as time is premium for vaccinators. Moreover, this massive adult immunisation, taken up for the first time in history, would require keeping beneficiaries under observation at least for 30 minutes after the shot, which could be done better in dedicated vaccination centres.

Currently, 6,000 public sector and 20,000 private facilities are carrying out vaccination in the country, Bhushan said.

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