New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry on Tuesday, said that Kerala, Delhi, West Bengal and Manipur have witnessed a surge in the number of active COVID-19 cases from October 3 to November 3.
However, states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have registered a decline in the coronavirus cases despite being on top.
The Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan during a press briefing said that there has been a continuous decline in the average daily cases of infections and deaths by COVID-19, due to which “healthcare systems were not unnecessarily burdened and there was less pressure on hospitals”, as quoted by Zee News.
Bhushan said that the average daily new cases of the virus have been declined from 90,346, which was recorded between September 16 and September 22, to 45,884 between October 28 to November 3. He added, “The average daily new deaths due to COVID-19 have declined from 1,165 recorded from September 16 to September 22 to 513 registered between October 28 and November 3.”
More than 11 crore COVID-19 tests have been conducted so far. The cumulative, weekly and daily positivity rate is constantly declining and stood at 7.4 per cent, 4.4 per cent and 3.7 per cent respectively, the health secretary said.
Bhushan refuted the allegations by a private diagnostic laboratory about the government authorities in some districts have been trying to control the testing to display fee cases. He said that there has been no reduction in the number of tests.
He further added, “As far as ventilators are concerned, we have provided a sufficient number of ventilators to Delhi. If there is any demand in the future, we would be in a position to provide additional ventilators too.”
National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog member (Health) and head of National Task Force on COVID-19 VK Paul urged people to follow the COVID-appropriate behaviour and to get themselves tested if they discover any symptoms.
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director-General Balram Bhargava said that data has shown that masks should also be worn during exercise and it doesn’t alter the oxygen levels.