Covid:34 states,UTs recording decline in cases, positivity rate: Govt

The peak of the third COVID-19 wave driven by the highly transmissible coronavirus variant Omicron is slightly lower than that of the second wave, but Kerala  is the only one out of eight states with over 50,000 active Covid-19 cases witnessing a surge in new cases of infection and an increase in positivity rate,  the Health Ministry's Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal told reporters in New Delhi on Thursday.  There are still some areas where cases are increasing. Covid management strategies still need to be implemented because overall we are still seeing high number of cases,  Agarwal said.  34 states/UTs, including Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, are now recording a decline in fresh cases and positivity rate.

Daily Covid cases in the two weeks between January 21 and February 3 have fallen by 50 per cent from 3,47,254 to 1,72,433. During the same period, positivity rate or the number of infections per 100 tests fell by 39 per cent from 17.94 per cent to 10.99 per cent, which shows a clear decline in daily positivity rate indicating decreased spread of Covid infection. Although the number of districts with positivity rate over 10 per cent has fallen from over 400 a week ago to less than 300 now, two states - Kerala and Mizoram - are reporting increase in positivity rate and cases, he said. Agrawal said that surgery is safe and not associated with higher chances of complications or death in Covid patients infected with the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.