State asks dist admins, KMC to identify local Covid hotspots as 'containment zones'

Kolkata/New Delhi: For the first time during the second wave of Covid pandemic, the state government on Tuesday directed authorities of all districts and Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to carry out strict surveillance by identifying local Covid hotspots as "containment" or "micro-containment zones" to further bring down the number of Covid cases in the state.

Directions have also been given to ensure strong surveillance in the containment zones. "Norms of physical distancing and Covid appropriate behaviour must be strictly enforced in these areas," the order reads. The Covid positivity rate in the state has dropped to 6 per cent at present.

Meanwhile, India saw a single-day rise of 60,471 new Coronavirus infections, the lowest after 75 days, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,95,70,881, out of which 2,82,80,472 people have recuperated, while the daily positivity rate declined to 3.45 per cent, according to the Union Health ministry data updated on Tuesday.

The ministry also said prior booking and pre-online registration were not mandatory for Covid vaccination. As per the government, anyone aged 18 years or more can directly go to the nearest vaccination centre, where the vaccinator performs the on-site registration and provides vaccination in the same visit, for the Covid vaccine.

These are also popularly known as 'walk-ins'. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the ministry said: "The facilitated registration through the Common Service Centres (CSCs) on Co-WIN, is just one of the many modes of registration on Co-WIN."

The COVID-19 death toll climbed to 3,77,031 with 2,726 fresh deaths, as the case fatality rate increased to 1.28 per cent.

The active cases further declined to 9,13,378 comprising 3.09 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 95.64 per cent. A net decline of 59,780 cases has been recorded in the COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The total number of vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed the 26 crore-mark, the ministry said on Tuesday.

It added that 13,13,438 vaccine doses were administered as the first dose and 54,375 vaccine doses were given a second dose in the 18-44 age group on Tuesday. Cumulatively, 4,49,87,004 persons in the same age group across states and UTs have received their first dose and 8,95,517 have received their second dose since the start of phase-3 of the vaccination drive.

The Delta plus variant of Covid is not yet a 'variant of concern', the ministry added on Tuesday, noting that its presence has to be assessed and tracked in the country.

At a press conference, NITI Aayog Member (Health) V K Paul said a new mutation has been detected called Delta plus variant and it has been there since March in Europe. This was brought into the public domain just a few days ago, he said.

"This is a variant of interest that has not yet been classified as a variant of concern. A variant of concern is in which we have understood that there are adverse consequences to humanity by an increase in transmissibility and severity. This is not known yet about the Delta plus variant," Paul said.