Covid-19 deaths significantly less in 3rd wave than in second wave: Centre

NEW DELHI: The Centre of Thursday said that despite a sharp rise in new cases of coronavirus infections, the fatalities linked to Covid-19 has been significantly less in the third wave as compared to the second wave.

Addressing a press conference, Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary, said, “Covid-19 deaths are significantly less in the third wave of coronavirus in comparison to the second wave and the current surge is not witnessing an increase in severe illness or death following high vaccination uptake."

The Health Secretary, however, said that “Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh are among the 'States of Concern'”. “Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, UP, Gujarat, Odisha, Delhi & Rajasthan are among the top 10 States in terms of active cases,” he added.

“We have sent Central health teams to these States and are continuously reviewing the situation there,” Rajesh Bhushan said.

While noting that “Asia is showing a sharp surge in global contribution to Covid cases from 7.9 per cent to around 18.4 per cent in 4 weeks, Bhushan said, “11 states/UTs have more than 50,000 active COVID-19 cases and 515 districts were reporting weekly case positivity of over 5 per cent.’’

Sharing more info, Rajesh Bhushan added, “In the last surge of Covid-19 on 30 April 2021 there were 3,86,452 new cases, 3,059 deaths and over 31 lakh active cases. “On 20 Jan 2022, there are 3,17,532 new cases, 380 deaths and 19,24,051 active cases. The proportion of fully vaccinated people is 72%,” Bhushan said.

He also said that 94 per cent of India's adults have been administered the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, while 72 per cent are fully vaccinated. For the 15-18 years age group, the government said 52 per cent have received their first dose of the Covid vaccine.

Speaking on his turn, DG ICMR Dr Balram Bhargava said, “Vaccines have remained beneficial in India. Deaths have considerably reduced due to vaccinations. In this third surge of COVID19, we are currently not witnessing severe illness and deaths due to high vaccination uptake.’’

India recorded 3,17,532 new Covid-19 cases, 491 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the total death toll to 4,87,693, according to the data released by the Ministry of Health on Thursday (January 20, 2022). The active cases stand at 19,24,051.

An increase of 93,051 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The country also recorded 2,23,990 recoveries today, taking the total number of recoveries to 3,58,07,029.

The active cases comprise 5.03 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate has decreased to 93.69 per cent. India has also recorded 9,287 Omicron infections till now, according to the Union Health Ministry data. There has been a 3.63 per cent increase in Omicron cases since Wednesday, the ministry said.

Experts said it is not possible to undertake genome sequencing of each and every sample but stressed that the current wave is largely being driven by Omicron. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 16.41 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 16.06 per cent, according to the ministry. 

Additionally, the cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 159.67 crore.