New Delhi: The government on Thursday said 34 states and union territories, including Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu, are recording a decline in COVID-19 cases and positivity rate, while Kerala and Mizoram are still recording an increase in cases and positivity.
It also said that the pandemic situation has improved and there is contraction in spread of the Covid infection. In 268 districts, the positivity rate is below five per cent, the government said.
It said that a decline in COVID-19 case fatality rate has been noted with an increase in administration of vaccine doses.
There has been a consistent decline in daily active COVID-19 cases and daily positivity rate, indicating decreased spread of the infection, the government said.
According to Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday, 1,72,433 people tested positive for Coronavirus infection in a day that took India's total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,18,03,318, while the active cases decreased to 15,33,921. The death toll climbed to 4,98,983 with 1,008 fresh fatalities, including 500 from Kerala.
The active cases comprise 3.67 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has decreased to 95.14 per cent, the ministry said.
A reduction of 87,682 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
Earlier the government noted that present data indicates surgery is safe and not associated with higher chances of complications or deaths in Coronavirus patients.
The government said that the population with average age of 44 years were infected more in this Covid wave as compared to previous waves, and last time, the average was 55 years.
In this Covid wave, sore throat was seen more in patients and there was significantly lesser use of drugs for treatment, it added.
On reopening of schools, it said schools have fully opened in 11 states, partially for higher classes in 16 states and are closed in nine states.
The government noted that 95 per cent teaching and non-teaching staff in schools are vaccinated and some states have achieved 100 per cent vaccination coverage.
According to government data, India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 168.40 crore with over 50 lakh vaccine doses being administered on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Finance Secretary T V Somanathan said on Thursday that the government has earmarked Rs 5,000 crore in the next fiscal just for Covid vaccination of 15-17-year-age group and precautionary dose for senior citizens. He emphasised that more money will be allocated as needs arise.
The government in the last Budget had provisioned Rs 35,000 crore towards Covid vaccination for the 2021-22 fiscal. The amount has been upped to Rs 39,000 crore in the revised estimates. Asked about the reason for reduced outlay for 2022-23 fiscal, Somanathan explained that while the outlay in the last budget was towards vaccinating full adult population, the next fiscal's allocation needs to be seen in the context of 'precautionary doses' and jabs to children in the age group of 15-17 years.