Be 'careful & watchful', don't lower guard, Covid not over yet: Centre

New Delhi: Expressing concern over surge in COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, the Union Health Ministry on Thursday advised people to be "careful and watchful" and not lower guard as the pandemic is not yet over.

"We are very worried about Maharashtra. This is a serious matter. This has two lessons- don't take the virus for granted and if we have to remain Covid free, then, we need to follow Covid appropriate behaviour, said VK Paul, who is member (Health), NITI Aayog.

Maharashtra has topped the list of states where the active COVID-19 caseload witnessed an increase in the one-month period since February 11, while the active caseload reduced to half in Kerala within the same time period.

In Maharashtra, there were 36,917 active cases on February 11, which rose to 1,00,240 cases on Thursday. The state reported a fresh spike of 13,659 new cases on Wednesday that pushed the total tally to over 2.2 million cases and the state government has also imposed a fresh lockdown in Nagpur city from March 15 till March 21.

However, despite an intensive vaccination drive, India witnessed spike in fresh COVID-19 cases as the country reported 22,854 new infections in the past 24 hours, which is a two-month high and 27 per cent higher than the previous day's figure of 17,921. The death toll increased to 1,58,189 with 126 daily new fatalities. The total active cases have increased to 1,89,226 which now comprises 1.68 per cent of the total infections. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,09,38,146 which translates to a national COVID-19 recovery rate of 96.92 per cent, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.40 per cent.

Meanwhile, with 3,89,337 vaccine doses given till 7 pm in a single day on Thursday, the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 2.60 crore. According to the Health Ministry's provisional report, a total of 2,60,73,517 vaccine doses have been given till 7 pm.

Moreover, rejecting the reports about shortage of vaccines, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said, "There is no vaccine shortage in any state in the country and the government has re-negotiated the price for the vaccine. The re-negotiated price is significantly lower."

Expressing his concern over the 'spurt' in COVID-19 active cases, ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava said, "Maharashtra has shown a worrisome trend, the mutant strain has not been found incriminating in this surge in cases. It is just related to reduced testing, tracking and tracing and Covid inappropriate behaviour and large congregations."

Notably, out of the 10 worst affected districts, eight districts are of Maharashtra while two districts are from other states. The top 10 districts that have reported maximum number of active cases include Pune, Nagpur, Thane, Mumbai, Bengaluru Urban, Ernakulam, Amravati, Jalgaon, Nashik and Aurgagabad.

The Health Ministry has advised that in districts where COVID-19 cases are seemingly on the rise, vaccination of eligible individuals should be intensified and prioritised.

Stressing on intensifying vaccination to stop the spread of Coronavirus, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said, "The acceleration in delivering COVID-19 vaccine shots has been achieved in collaboration with the private sector which administered more than 23 per cent of the doses." "71.23 per cent of Coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered in government hospitals, while 28.77 per cent of these doses have been contributed by private facilities," Bhushan said, adding that the acceleration has been achieved with active collaboration with private sector facilities.