Addressing a press briefing, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said 16 districts which earlier had positive cases have not reported any new case of COVID-19 in the last 28 days.
Responding to a question over an Indian Council of Medical Research study which stated that 40 out of 104 people having severe acute respiratory infection and later tested positive for coronavirus did not have any recent international travel history or contact with any confirmed cases of the disease, senior official of the ministry Lav Agarwal asserted, "No community transmission has happened in the country so far. There is no need to panic."
Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope had on Tuesday said that plasma therapy is being used in the state on an experimental basis after getting approval from Indian Council of Medical Research
The ministry also said about 14 most affected countries with a cumulative population almost equal to that of India have reported 55.2 times more COVID-19 deaths and 22.5 times more cases.
Timely, proactive, and graded strategy initiatives for effective coronavirus infection management in the country, led by the Centre and implemented by the states and Union Territories, have ensured that the actual COVID-19 caseload remains manageable.
A 1996-batch IAS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre, Agarwal was the central government's official spokesperson at the national media briefings
Early detection will bring down the mortality rate, the minister said, adding that the government plans to increase institutional quarantine facilities.
Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal claimed that India has been doing better than many other countries on the outcome ratio, which is the number of recoveries from coronavirus infection versus the number of deaths.
On Monday, the ministry had put the recovery rate from COVID-19 at 22.17 per cent.
The government on Tuesday stressed on avoiding large gatherings for a couple of months and following COVID-19-appropriate behaviour to avert any future wave, even as it noted that there has been a continued and sharp decline in daily new coronavirus cases in the country.
said globally, a third wave of COVID-19 is being seen and called on people to make efforts to ensure that it does not happen in India.
The govt said that states have been asked to classify districts which have reported a higher number of cases as hotspots, the districts where cases have been reported as non-hotspots, and green zones where no cases have been reported.
Addressing a press briefing, Niti Aayog member (health) VK Paul said that though there has been an overall decline in case burden but the positivity rate is still over 10 per cent in 382 districts.
Addressing a press briefing, Health Ministry's Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said the government has taken early preemptive action to identify COVID-19 hotspots in the country.
Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal said that India has a stock of 3.28 crore tablets of hydroxychloroquine, which is three time more than the projected requirement of one crore tablets in the country for the coming week and that tie-ups have been made for additional supply of 2 to 3 crore tablets for the future need.
Mandaviya reviewed the pandemic situation, status of vaccination drive and the global scenario of new variants of Covid.
The government on Friday said 25 cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus have been detected in India so far and that mostly mild symptoms have been noted in all the cases.
Early indications of Covid infections plateauing have been reported in some places but the trend needs to be observed, the Union government said on Thursday whilst noting that 400 districts have logged weekly Covid positivity of over 10 per cent.
Agarwal said that the current 'R0' or R naught for the coronavirus infection is somewhere between 1.5 and 4.
The number of cases due to the mosquito-transmitted disease in the southern state went went up to 14 on Friday following confirmation of 13 additional samples by the National Institute of Virology.
Foreign teams that will land in India for next month's FIH Men's Junior Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneswar have been exempted from quarantine and will only be required to monitor themselves for COVID-19 symptoms during the stay.
Addressing a press briefing on the COVID-19 situation in the country, P D Vaghela, Chairman of the Empowered Group-3, said about 19,398 ventilators are available in India and orders have been placed for 60,884 more, and of these 59,884 will be made by domestic manufacturers.
Six hundred and thirty COVID-19 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours, taking the recovery rate to 25.19 per cent in the country, said Lav Agarwal, joint secretary, ministry of health and family welfare, on Thursday.
During the daily media briefing, Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, said that 16 districts in the country, which earlier had cases, have not reported any fresh cases for the last 28 days.
In response to a question on whether younger population were getting more affected, Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said the comparison of data during the first and the second wave of COVID-19 has shown that there is not much age difference.
The ICMR's statement came against the backdrop of the World Health Organization (WHO) suspending the testing of the drug in COVID-19 patients temporarily in its global study following safety concerns.
Head of epidemiology and communicable diseases at Indian Council of Medical Research Dr Raman R Gangakhedkar said 80 out of 100 infected people do not show any symptoms.
With these states imposing lockdowns anew, the health ministry emphasised that the restrictions should be utilised to focus on containment, surveillance and testing in the containment and buffer zones as the key strategy for early detection of cases and fatality management.
People must also avoid mass gatherings, and new year celebrations need to be at low intensity, the government said.
The districts are Gondia (Maharashtra), Raj Nand Gaon (Chhattisgarh), Davangiri (Karnataka), South Goa, Wayanad and Kottayam (Kerala), West Imphal (Manipur), Rajouri (J&K), Aizwal West (Mizoram), Mahe in Puducherry, SBS Nagar in Punjab, Patna, Nalanda and Munger in Bihar, Pratapgarh in Rajasthan, Panipat, Rohtak and Sirsa in Haryana, Pauri Garhwal in Uttrakhand and Bhadradari Kothagudem in Telangana.
The outcome ratio of COVID-19 -- the ratio of recoveries and deaths of closed cases -- was recorded at 90:20.
But the numbers have continued to rise in 23 states including Bihar, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Addressing a press briefing, health ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said currently there are no approved therapies for COVID-19 and there is not enough evidence to claim that plasma therapy can be used for treatment of the disease.
During a briefing on the COVID-19 situation, joint secretary in the ministry Lav Agarwal also said about 2.94 per cent of the active COVID-19 cases needed oxygen support, 3 per cent needed intensive care units (ICU) and 0.45 per cent required ventilator support.
At the same, it said the latest figures do not establish a clear trend and in no way the government is relaxed about anything at this point.
Asserting repeatedly that the second wave of the pandemic is not over, the government said that though the situation is plateauing, the country is still reporting as high as 20,000-odd new infections every day.
These dedicated COVID-19 facilities will have a capacity of 1,06,719 isolation beds and 12,024 ICU beds reserved for such patients in the country.
Nearly half of all coronavirus patients in the country have been cured, taking the recovery rate to over 48 per cent.
NITI Aayog member (health) Dr VK Paul said all decisions on precaution doses are taken first and foremost based on the need.
The government on Friday warned about the declining compliance to mask usage in the country amid concerns over the Omicron variant of the coronavirus and urged people to follow COVID-appropriate behaviour and get vaccinated to prevent surge in cases.
