On Sunday, a doctor takes a swab pattern for Covid-19 from passengers at Birsa Munda International Airport in Ranchi. PTI
New Delhi, 25 December
India recorded 227 new cases of covid-19 on Sunday, marking a buildup after weeks of steady decline and signaling a need for caution in the wake of China’s rise and the ongoing holiday season.
The average daily occurrence of Covid was 153 the week of December 16-22. The registration of 227 new instances in the last 24 hours means an increase of almost 50% of daily instances compared to last week.
In addition, today’s Covid instances are also increasing after a steady decline from the week of October 7-13, when instances averaged 2408.
The daily positivity recorded in the last 24 hours was 0. 18%, a slight increase from 0. 14%, with the positivity rate in the week ending December 22.
However, experts said cases were still low, but that the upward trend needed to be closely monitored to temporarily detect any primary outbreaks, which would require active surveillance, testing and isolation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the last “Mann ki Baat” program of the year, suggested caution. He said many other people were on vacation or would be boarded on New Year’s Day. “I urge others to abide by Covid protocol, such as dressing in a mask and practicing hand hygiene and breathing, to make sure their holidays and joy are not affected by the virus,” the prime minister said.
Meanwhile, the government sent a checklist to states and UTs, which were asked to conduct simulated training at all fitness facilities on Dec. 27 to keep medical infrastructure in a state of superior readiness.
District creditors were tasked with conducting trainings and uploading readiness reports for all services to a specially designed portal on the evening of Dec. 27. Meanwhile, experts said Omicron’s BF. 7 subvariant, which was behind the surge in China, could reach India. but it wouldn’t have the same effect it would have in China because India had developed hybrid immunity, a set of vaccine-induced immunity and herd immunity, due to a large cohort of inflamed people.
Vaccinologist Gagandeep Kang said the Indian population had hybrid immunity because they had been vaccinated at a very high point and inflamed at a very high point.
She said that more than 90% of other people over the age of 12 in India had received some dose of the Covid vaccine and 90% had been infected, which gave Indians hybrid immunity, that is, the same variant, as circulating in China today. , came to India, “will not do the same damage as in China, where the majority of the population is not vaccinated and not exposed. “
Director of CSIR’s Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Vinay K Nandicoori, also said: “India will not see too much severity in BF. 7 variant infection, as Indians have developed herd immunity at a significant point due to delta infection. and variants of Omicron and also due to high levels of vaccination against Covid.
In addition, BF. 7 has been in India since October with at least 4 instances detected, but has so far fueled outbreaks. China has a huge and vulnerable elderly population of 130 million unvaccinated or undervaccinated people.
The Tribune has two sister publications, Punjabi Tribune (in Punjabi) and Dainik Tribune (in Hindi).