Over 15% positivity in 24 states, instances trending steeply up in 30 districts

Twenty-four states have reported a check positivity fee of greater than 15 per cent for Covid-19 during the last week, the federal government mentioned on Friday.
At least 30 districts had confirmed “a steep upward trend” in instances during the last two weeks. The information had been a “matter of great concern”, the Health Ministry mentioned.
The nation’s complete energetic caseload was 36,45,164 on Friday. A report 4,14,188 instances had been reported over the earlier 24 hours, together with 3,915 deaths, the federal government mentioned.
Additional Secretary within the Ministry of Health Arti Ahuja mentioned seven states had reported a really excessive check positivity fee of 30 per cent or extra over the previous week: Goa (48.5 per cent), Haryana (36.1 per cent), Puducherry (34.9 per cent), West Bengal (33.1 per cent), and Karnataka, Delhi, and Rajasthan (29.9 per cent every).
“There are 12 states with more than 1 lakh active cases, and seven states with 50,000 to 1 lakh active cases. Case positivity is an important indicator that shows how the cases are spread across [the country]. There are only three states with less than 5 per cent positivity, and nine states have positivity between 5 and 15 per cent. Twenty-four states have more than 15 per cent positivity. The high positivity is the cause of concern for us and the country,” Ahuja mentioned.

ExplainedRising within the SouthAs many as 20 of the 30 districts exhibiting a “steep upward trend week-on-week” in every day new instances had been in southern India, authorities information present — 10 in Kerala, seven in Andhra Pradesh, and three in Karnataka.

Twelve states and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir had been exhibiting a “continued increasing trend in daily new cases”, Ahuja mentioned. These states had been Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Haryana, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Assam, and Himachal Pradesh, she mentioned.
Among the 30 districts exhibiting a “steep upward trend week-on-week” in every day new instances, as many as 10 had been in Kerala – Kozhikode, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Malappuram, Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Palakkad, Kollam, and Kannur.
Seven districts had been in Andhra Pradesh – Chittoor, East Godavari, Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Kurnool, Guntur, and Anantapur – and three in Karnataka – Bengaluru Urban, Mysuru, and Tumakuru.
There had been two districts every in Haryana (Gurugram, Faridabad), West Bengal (North 24-Paraganas, Kolkata), and Maharashtra (Satara, Solapur). Chennai, Patna, and Khurda (Odisha) are additionally among the many 30 districts.
However, barely two days after saying {that a} third wave of an infection was “inevitable” given the excessive ranges at which the virus was circulating, the federal government’s prime scientific adviser on Friday mentioned that if sturdy measures had been applied, the third wave could not, in reality, hit India.
Principal Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister Dr Ok VijayRaghavan mentioned: “…It may be useful to talk about location, timing, and intensity of the infections, instead of waves and their number. If we take strong measures, the third wave may not happen in all the places, or indeed anywhere at all.”
Lots depends upon “how effectively the guidance is implemented at the local level in the states,” Dr VijayRaghavan mentioned. “The guidance about precaution, surveillance, containment, treatment, and testing. This insidious asymptomatic transmission can be stopped if we follow the guidance,” he mentioned.
In an interview given to The Indian Express final month, Dr VijayRaghavan had made the identical level. “India may peak in May, but much depends on what we do by way of behaviour,” he had mentioned. Things might nonetheless flip round: “It is not that the situation has to deteriorate further. With immediate strong action, it is possible to prevent further deterioration.” What was “absolutely crucial”, nevertheless, was “masks and physical distancing”, he had mentioned.