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12 Apr

Covid-19: Union Health Minister Mandaviya directs officials to boost surveillance of new XE variant

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya, on Tuesday, chaired a meeting with the key experts and officials of the country on the new ‘XE variant’ of COVID-19.

While reviewing the cases of COVID-19 in the country, he directed the officials to boost ongoing monitoring and surveillance of new variants and cases.

On the medical infrastructure and resources front, Mandaviya directed officials to constantly review the availability of essential drugs and medicines required for Covid treatment. He further emphasized that the ongoing vaccination drive must be carried out at full pace and all eligible should be vaccinated.

The meeting was attended by V.K. Paul, member, Health, NITI Ayog, Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Health, Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS, Balram Bhargava, DG, ICMR, N K Arora, NTAGI and other senior officials of the Health Ministry were also present in the meeting.

The new sub-variant XE is just a subtype of Omicron. Strains of Omicron- BA.1 and BA.2, both mutated into the new variant. In the case of XE, it contains a mix of the previously highly infectious omicron BA.1 strain, and the newer BA.2 variant.

 

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11 Apr

Supreme Court fixes 60-day limit for COVID-19 death claims

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday said that the Supreme Court in its Order dated 24th March 2022 fixed the following timelines for beneficiaries to file claims for payment of ex-gratia assistance to families of COVID-19 deceased as announced by the National Disaster Management Authority.

The key directions issued by the Supreme Court are:

An outer time limit of sixty days shall be applicable from 24th March 2022 to file the claims for compensation in case the death occurred due to COVID-19 prior to 20th March 2022.

For any future deaths, ninety days’ time shall be provided from the date of death due to COVID-19 to file the claim for compensation.

The earlier order to process the claims and to make the actual payment of compensation within a period of thirty days from the date of receipt of claim shall continue to be enforced.

The Court however directed that in case of extreme hardship where any claimant could not make an application within the time prescribed, it will be open for the claimant to make the claim through the Grievance Redressal Committee.

And if it is found by the Grievance Redressal Committee that a particular claimant could not make the claim within the stipulated time which was beyond their control his or her case may be considered on merits.

Moreover, the Court also directed that in a bid to minimize the risk of fake claims, random scrutiny of the 5% of the claim applications shall be made at the first instance. If it is found that anybody has made a fake claim, the same shall be considered under Section 52 of the DM Act, 2005 and liable to be punished accordingly.

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30 Mar

Covid-19: India’s active caseload falls below 15,000 after 707 days

According to the Union health ministry’s updated data on Wednesday morning, India have reported 1,233 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours.

There has been a sustained fall in the weekly and daily Positivity Rates. The weekly Positivity Rate in the country currently stands at 0.25% and the Daily Positivity rate is also reported to be 0.20%.

In a significant development, India’s Active Caseload (14,704) has declined to less than the 15,000 mark after 707 days. Active cases now constitute 0.03% of the country’s total Positive Cases. The caseload on 21st April 2020 was 14,759 Active Cases.

31 Covid-19 deaths were also reported in the last 24 hours, taking the country’s death toll up to 5,21,070.

Meanwhile, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 183.82 crores.  Vaccination for the age group 12-14 years was started on 16 March 2022. So far, more than 1.50 crore (1,50,55,291) children have been administered with the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Precaution doses have been given to more than 2.28 Crore (2,28,71,399) people so far.

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24 Mar

India reports 1,938 fresh Covid-19 cases, 67 deaths in last 24 hours

According to the Union health ministry’s updated data on Thursday morning, India has reported 1,938 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours.

Weekly Positivity Rate in the country currently stands at 0.35% and the Daily Positivity rate is also reported to be 0.29%.

The active caseload declined to 22,427. Total 2,531 people recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours, increasing the total number to 4,24,75,588.

67 Covid-19 deaths were also reported in the last 24 hours, taking the country’s death toll up to 5,16,672.

Meanwhile, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 182.23 crores.  Vaccination for the age group 12-14 years was started on 16 March, 2022. So far, more than 72 lakh (72,17,166) children have been administered the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Precaution doses have been given to 2,21,21,816 people so far. Of these, 43,88,402 were given to healthcare workers, 67,20,473 to frontline workers and 1,10,12,941 to people above the age of 60 years.

Meanwhile, all existing Covid restrictions imposed by the National Disaster Management Authority are set to be removed on March 31. On Wednesday the Ministry of Home Affairs said that the Disaster Management Act will no longer be invoked for Covid-safety measures. However, masks will still have to be worn in public places and social distancing has to be maintained.

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23 Mar

Over 50 lakh Covid vaccine doses administered to children aged 12-14 years

According to the latest data of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare updated on Wednesday morning, more than 50 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered to children in the 12-14 years age group.

COVID-19 vaccination for the age group 12-14 years was started on 16 March, 2022. So far, more than 52 lakh (52,10,775) children have been administered with the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

Union health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted, “Another feather in the cap of the world’s largest vaccination drive. Over 50 lakh youngsters between 12-14 age group have received their first dose of COVID 19 vaccine. Extremely proud of our young warriors!”

With this the total number of Covid vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 181.89 crore.

Over 2.2 crore (2,20,10,777) precaution doses have been administered to healthcare workers (HCWs), frontline workers (FLWs) and those aged 60 years and above.

More than 1.09 crore precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to those aged above 60 years.

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23 Mar

Centre revokes Disaster Management Act provisions for Covid containment measures, but masks to stay

All existing Covid restrictions imposed by the National Disaster Management Authority are set to be removed on March 31. On Wednesday the Ministry of Home Affairs said that the Disaster Management Act will no longer be invoked for Covid-safety measures. However, masks will still have to be worn in public places and also social distancing has to be maintained.

Since 24th March 2020, on the direction of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the Ministry of Home Affairs has been issuing Orders and Guidelines under the Disaster Management Act, (DM Act) 2005, for the containment of COVID-19 in the country.

Central Government, in close coordination with the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations (UTS) have taken various proactive measures to deal with the unprecedented global crisis of COVID-19 pandemic.

“NDMA has taken a decision that there may not be any further need to invoke the provisions of the DM Act for COVID containment measures,” read the order signed by Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla

However, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MOHFW) advisories on COVID containment measures, including the use of face masks and hand hygiene, will continue to guide the overall national response to the pandemic.

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20 Mar

India’s daily COVID-19 cases drop below 2,000 mark

India continues to witness a declining trend with daily infections dropping below the 2,000 mark on Sunday. According to the Union health ministry’s updated data on Sunday morning, India has reported 1,761 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours.

There has been a sustained fall in the weekly and daily Positivity Rates too. The weekly Positivity Rate in the country currently stands at 0.41% and the daily positivity rate is also reported to be 0.41%.

The active caseload declined to 26,240. Total 3,196 people recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours, increasing the total number to 4,24,65,122. The recovery rate has also improved to 98.74 per cent.

Meanwhile, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 181.21 crores.  Vaccination for the age group 12-14 years was started on 16 March, 2022. So far, more than 17 lakh (17,36,464) adolescents have been administered the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

Precaution doses have been given to 2,17,33,502 people so far. Of these, 43,58,282 were given to healthcare workers, 66,63,768 to frontline workers, and 1,07,11,452 to people above the age of 60 years.

In the age group of 15-18 years, 5,62,03,581 children have taken the first dose and 3,54,81,792 have taken the second dose of vaccination.

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20 Mar

‘Pandemic Not Over’: WHO Warns Against ‘Huge Amount of Misinformation’ Around COVID-19

The World Health Organization on Saturday expressed concern about the spread of misinformation about the pandemic. They said that the misinformation about the pandemic is creating confusion among people. The concern comes as in the last week there was an 8% increase in cases.

WHO’s COVID-19 Technical Lead Maria Van Kerkhove said that there are misinformations that the pandemic is over or that Omicron is the last variant of Covid-19 that we will have to deal with.

“We have huge amounts of misinformation that’s out there. The misinformation that Omicron is mild. Misinformation that the pandemic is over. Misinformation that this is the last variant that we will have to deal with. This is really causing a lot of confusion,” said Ms. Kerkhove.

Talking about Omicron she said that COVID-19 vaccines remain incredibly effective at preventing severe disease and death, including against Omicron.

She further said that with a huge number of Covid cases there will be an increase in hospitalizations and that will result in increased deaths, primarily in people not vaccinated.

“We do not see changes in severity of BA.2 compared to BA.1 at population levels. However, with huge numbers of cases, you will see an increase in hospitalizations & that in turn has translated into increased deaths… primarily in people not vaxxed or partially vaxxed,” she said.

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