India’s Covid-19 situation continues to be a cause of grave concern given the unprecedented rise in daily infections — the figure having surpassed the 2 lakh mark in each of the last four days — even as the Centre and the States redouble efforts to tackle the medical infrastructure.
The latest 7-day rolling average of new cases came in at 2,04,186, as compared to 1,24,756 cases in the previous seven days.
The average of new reported deaths for the last seven days stood at 1,125 (compared to 664 in previous seven days).
On Sunday, India surged past 2.5 lakh cases at 2,61,500 cases with highest single-day deaths at 1,501. Cumulatively, the total cases stood at 1,47,88,109 of which total active cases stood at 18,01,316,recoveries stood at 1,28,09,643 and death toll was at 1,77,150 on Sunday, according the Union Health Ministry data.
Alarming spike in cases
The new spike in Covid cases is alarming and has become a serious concern for the Modi-government, which is leaving no stone unturned in containing the contagious virus through its vaccination drive running at full throttle. Anti-covid jabs administered across India reached nearly 12.26 crores on Sunday with 26,84,956 vaccines administered in the last 24 hours, government data shows.
Besides vaccination, the State governments have imposed curfews and partial or full lockdowns in several areas for variable periods.
Certain hospitals have also been declared as full Covid-19 hospitals for tackling the resurgence in cases during the second wave. In the national capital, the Kejriwal-government had declared 14 private hospitals including Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Indraprastha Apollo and Holy Family as “full Covid-19” hospitals and instructed them not to admit any non-Covid patients till further orders. Meanwhile, the Health Ministry on Sunday said that Covid-19 vaccination services should not be affected by curfews/lockdowns and the movement of beneficiaries to and from the Covid-19 Vaccination Centres (CVCs) should not be restricted during such interventions.
Those CVCs, which have been identified as “Dedicated Covid-19 Hospitals”, should continue providing uninterrupted Covid-19 vaccination services, the Health Ministry said. “Vaccination services should be provided in a separate building/block in these hospitals that is distinctly separated from the building/block where management of Covid-19 patients is being done. This will ensure that beneficiaries of vaccination are not inadvertently exposed to Covid-19,” a Ministry notification said.