'Go for state-specific serosurveys'
New Delhi: The Centre has advised all states and Union Territories to conduct seroprevalence surveys in consultation with the ICMR to generate district-level data on the same, which is essential in formulating localised public health response measures.
This was stated in a letter written by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan to Additional Chief Secretaries/Principal Secretaries/Secretaries (Health) of all states/UTs, a statement by the Union Health ministry said.
India logged 43,654 fresh COVID-19 cases taking its tally to 3,14,84,605, while 640 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 4,22,022, according to Union Health ministry data on Wednesday.
The number of active cases stood at 3,99,436, an increase of 1,336 in a span of 24 hours, and comprises 1.27 per cent of the total infections. The national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 97.39 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.
The total number of Covid vaccine doses administered so far as part of the nationwide vaccination drive has reached 44.61 crore.
Kerala now accounts for 50 per cent of all new Covid cases in the country, the ministry pointed out. It has also expressed concern at the upward graph of new cases reported from Kerala over the last four weeks.
Kerala reported 22,056 new confirmed cases of infection on Wednesday, along with 131 more Covid-related deaths. According to the MoHFW dashboard, Kerala accounts for 1,45,876 of the total 3,99,436 active cases in the country as of July 28.
Meanwhile, the ministry also shared findings of the recent national serosurvey conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) across 70 districts of the country, according to which the seroprevalence was found to be 79 per cent among the surveyed population in Madhya Pradesh, 58 per cent in Maharashtra, 44.4 per cent in Kerala, 76.2 per cent in Rajasthan, 75.9 per cent in Bihar.
It was 75.3 per cent in Gujarat, 71.0 per cent in Uttar Pradesh, 69.8 per cent in Karnataka, 69.2 in Tamil Nadu, 68.1 per cent in Odisha, 66.5 in Punjab, 63.1 in Telangana, 50.3 in Assam and 60.9 in West Bengal.
At least two-third of the population surveyed in 11 states were found to have developed Coronavirus antibodies, according to the findings of a serosurvey by the ICMR done between June 14 and July 6.
Referring to the findings of the fourth round of the national seroprevalence survey done by ICMR, the ministry has advised states/UTs to conduct the seroprevalence studies in their own regions in consultation with the ICMR, so that such studies follow a standardised protocol, and the findings can then be utilised by the respective state and UT to guide objective, transparent and evidence-based public health response to COVID-19.
"The national serosurvey by ICMR was designed to capture the extent of the spread of Covid infection at the national level. Therefore, the national serosurvey results do not reflect the heterogeneity of seroprevalence between districts and even between states," the statement said. The Union Home ministry stated that there is no room for complacency in the approach to deal with the pandemic as the absolute number of positive cases is still significantly high. Extending the existing pandemic guidelines till August 31, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla also said there should be continuous focus on the five-fold strategy of 'test, track, treat, vaccinate and adhere to COVID-appropriate behaviour' for effective virus management. He also said there is a need to ensure adherence to Covid-Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) in all crowded places in view of the upcoming festivals.
In his communication to all states and Union Territories, Bhalla said with the decline in the number of active cases, states and UTs are reopening economic and other activities in a gradual manner. "While the decline in the number of cases is a matter of satisfaction, it may be noted that the absolute case numbers are still significantly high," he said. Therefore, the Home Secretary said, there is no room for complacency and the process of relaxing restrictions should be carefully calibrated, as has been reiterated in his earlier communications.
The World Health Organisation says the number of Coronavirus deaths globally jumped by 21% in the last week.
Most of the 69,000 deaths were reported in the Americas and Southeast Asia. The UN health agency also noted that COVID-19 cases rose by 8% worldwide and that there are now nearly 194 million infections.
WHO said that if these trends continue, the cumulative number of cases reported globally could exceed 200 million in the next two weeks. It added that the number of COVID-19 deaths increased in all regions except for Europe. The biggest numbers of cases were reported in the US, Brazil, Indonesia, the UK and India.
