Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
New Delhi
India on Tuesday witnessed the highest single-day surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths since the infection was reported in the country on January 30 this year.
In its daily briefing, the Health Ministry noted the “highest increase in both new infections and deaths” calling for community support and shared responsibility to fight the disease.
Ministry spokesperson Lav Agarwal said the country has seen 4,100 new cases since yesterday and 210 new deaths. Corresponding cases for a single day on Monday were 2,573 and deaths were 83.
Cases have increased nearly by 40 per cent and mortality has more than doubled over the past 24 hours.
The central government attributed sudden surge to previously data-cagey states beginning to report cases and deaths.
West Bengal had been particularly lax in full case reporting, which had led the government to send a central team to the state to assess the situation.
“This sudden rise that you see is due to states beginning to report cases. Some states were not reporting cases earlier and there were gaps. Those gaps have now been addressed. Timely reporting of COVID cases is very important so that contact tracing and containment can then begin,” Agarwal said.
He also said community would need to step up precautions as the government starts relaxing the lockdown conditions.
“We need community ownership of the battle. Government responsibility after easing the lockdown has increased and so has that of the community,” Agarwal said as India’s disease graph started to take an upward curve after linear growth for many days.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan also chaired the 14th meeting of the COVID group of ministers to take stock of containment and availability of essential equipment.
Total COVID cases in India are now 46,711, recoveries 12,726 and deaths 1,583.
Daily cases have now been surging to new highs for the past four days in a row.
‘No community transmission’
The latest number also come within hours of Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan insisting that India has so far been able to stave off community transmission of Covid-19.
The nation in a post-coronavirus future could well look back on the pandemic period as a “blessing in disguise” if Indians imbibe hand, respiratory and environmental hygiene and practise it in their everyday lives, the minister said.
Underlining the importance of the lockdown, which has been extended till May 17, the minister said health should be on the radar just as much as the economy.
“The government has to do a balancing act,” he said.
He added that India has so far been able to keep itself from “slipping into the stage of community transmission of the novel coronavirus”.
“By now we know that fighting coronavirus is no rocket science. If behavioural changes such as hand, environmental and respiratory hygiene, which are being practised more rigorously during this period, get imbibed in society it will become the new normal,” Vardhan said.
Such practices will bring down the instances of communicable diseases and society will evolve for the better, he said.
Other than small pox and polio, no other viral infection has been completely eradicated from this country. Other diseases keep recurring, the minister said, indicating that Covid-19 might be here for the long haul.
“But every cloud has a silver lining,” he said.
The situation posed by the Covid-19 pandemic can be seen as an opportunity to shore up health infrastructure and indigenous production of medical equipment and protective gear under the ‘Make in India’ initiative, the minister explained.
“We have ramped up the production of COVID-19 protective gears like PPE (personal protection equipment) and N-95 masks. Testing facilities have been scaled up significantly,” he said.
Efforts are also on to ramp up the production of APIs (active pharmaceutical ingredients), the raw material for pharmaceuticals, Vardhan added. “Thus, this pandemic can be seen as an opportunity to boost the indigenous production of such items, thereby reducing India’s dependency on foreign countries for them which are in high demand globally due to the pandemic,” he said.
The minister also discussed the chaos outside liquor vends across the country on Monday as several states relaxed the lockdown in accordance with guidelines from the Union Home Ministry and people in several places jostled and shoved to stock up on their alcohol without any thought to social distancing norms.
“We have to weigh every decision objectively and predict their consequences before implementing them to ensure there is no spike in cases.” He said the doubling rate of cases in the country has been showing regular improvement and stands at over 12 days now as against three days before March 25, when the nationwide lockdown began.
