Covid graph plateauing, need to be watchful-Lav Agrawal

The government has said that the country’s Covid-19 graph was plateauing but the challenge of Covid was not over yet and the effort to bring the pandemic under control was a continuous one.  Lav Agarwal, joint secretary of the Union health ministry on Thursday,said at the pandemic-related briefing in New Delhi. Kerala contributed 50 per cent of the total cases reported the entire last week, Agarwal said. Besides Kerala, there were four other states that have over 10,000 active Covid-19 cases and these were Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram and Karnataka, he added.

He said there were 28 districts across 12 states and Union Territories that reported a weekly positivity rate between five and 10 per cent. These 28 districts include a few in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. “There are 34 districts which are reporting a weekly positivity rate of over 10 per cent,” Agarwal said. However, the overall positivity rate was nearly at 1.68 per cent last week as compared to 5.86 per cent recorded earlier.  Lakshadweep, Chandigarh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar and Sikkim have inoculated 100 per cent of its population with the first dose of vaccines against the virus, Agarwal added. 

Niti Aayog member (health) Dr VK Paul said the government had adequately prepared against any oxygen-related crisis in future as he gave details of pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants that are operational in the country at the moment. Dr Paul said that the  government is preparing for a surge of 4.5-5 lakh cases per day, “At least 1,200 PSA plants are functional now. After the current program of establishing PSA plants, which is underway, there will be 4,000 PSA plants across the nation. This is our security against any oxygen constraints in future,” Dr Paul said.