Rise in COVID-19 hotspots due to lack of people’s support: Centre
| Date :01-Apr-2020 |
Two policeman wearing coronavirus-themed helmets charge another riding a bike during an awareness programme amid the nationwide lockdown in Bengaluru on Tuesday. (PTI)
NEW DELHI :
227 cases reported in the last 24 hours, Govt using cluster containment strategies and doing rigorous contact tracing to check spread of virus, says Health Ministry
WITH over 1,200 COVID-19 cases reported in the country so far, the number of hotspots of the disease have increased, the Health Ministry said on Monday while underlining that it is implementing rigorous contact tracing and cluster containment strategies. Addressing the daily press conference to provide updates on the COVID-19 situation in the country, Joint Secretary in Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said 227 cases have been reported in the last 24 hours and he attributed the increase to “lack of people’s support and delay in timely detection” of the cases. He further said wherever even a single case of COVID-19 is reported it is as good as a hotspot for the Government.
“With over 1,200 cases of COVID-19, the number of hotspots in the country has increased. The Government is using cluster containment strategies and doing rigorous contact tracing in these hotspots to check the virus from further spreading,” Agarwal said. Underlying that the Government will further increase the availability of protective gear for medical professionals, he said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has identified suppliers in South Korea, Turkey and Vietnam to improve logistics in the country during the COVID-19 crisis. Cases of medical professionals getting infected with COVID-19 are not due to any negligence, he said.
The official further said a group of Union ministers Tuesday took stock of the situation and stressed on the need for readying dedicated COVID-19 hospitals. Seeking cooperation from the public to fight the pandemic, Agarwal said there was no need to panic. He also said not everyone needs to wear masks and that following social distancing is more important to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Speaking at the same conference, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said so far 42,788 samples have been tested for coronavirus.
The ICMR is working with the Department of Bio Technology and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on the agenda of developing a vaccine for the COVID-19 disease, an ICMR official said. Rate of corona transmission less in India than in other countries: Ministry: THE Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday said the country had fewer corona cases than in other countries.
“Thousands of new cases and hundreds of deaths are being reported every day in various countries. In India 1,071 confirmed cases and 29 deaths have been reported so far,” said Joint Health Secretary Lav Agarwal told media. “At least 92 new confirmed cases and 4 new deaths have been reported in 24 hours,” Agarwal said. The Health Ministry had done a trend analysis based on number of cases and deaths reported in the country per day and found that the rate of transmission was much less than that in developed countries, given that the density of population in those countries is also lower than India. “We have observed a trend that in our country, it took 12 days for the cases to reach up to a thousand from one hundred. On the other hand, in other countries, 3,500, 5,000, 6,000 and as high as 8,000 cases have been reported in this time-frame.
These are developed countries and have less population than India,” said Agarwal. The Joint Health Secretary said it could happen due to collective pre-emptive measures and focused actions such as social distancing and lockdown taken by the government and cooperation of the people. “But as I said that this is a battle which we have to fight every day and we are dealing with infectious disease, if even one person shows carelessness, all our efforts will go waste,” said Agarwal. “Right now we are relatively at a better stage,” said Agarwal. He said the Indian Government did not wait for any world health body to take any stand on the coronavirus outbreak and started taking containment measures even before it was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
‘Over 21K camps operational, over 6.6 lakh sheltered’
NEW DELHI :
OVER 21,000 relief camps have been made operational in the country where more than 6.6 lakh destitute people and those stranded because of the COVID-19 lockdown are sheltered as of now, the Union Home Ministry said on Tuesday. Punya Salila Srivastava, a Joint Secretary in the Ministry, told reporters during a daily briefing on the coronavirus and lockdown situation that over 23 lakh people are also being provided food at these camps and other locations. She said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) was continuously monitoring the enforcement of the lockdown in the country in coordination with states and union territories and the situation till now has been satisfactory.
“As per information provided by States and UTs to the MHA, there are about 21,064 relief camps set up and over 6.66 lakh people are sheltered here. More than 23 lakh people are also being provided food.” “These facilities are available to the poor, destitute, to those who are stranded migrant workers, to those who only need food and also to those who have reached their location but are quarantined as per standard protocols,” the officer said.
“The situation of migrant workers is also under control,” she said. The system of transporting essential supplies across the country is also running satisfactorily, she said, adding interstate cargo movement is also going on smoothly. “We hope that the lockdown will be effective... and we will collectively tackle the COVID-19 challenge,” Srivastava said. Asked if the Government was planning to deploy central paramilitary forces to strictly enforce the three-week lockdown declared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from March 25, she said if any State seeks such an assistance from the MHA an action will be taken.