by Khushi Mehra
The Union government has continued to assert the onset of community transmission in India, even though the country has recorded 26,128 fresh COVID-19 cases. If we look into the total tally, the count of fresh cases was 787,601 by Thursday and the death count has reached 21,129 with 487 new fatalities.
Rajesh Bhushan, Officer-on-Special Duty, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said at a press conference, “India’s COVID-19 cases and deaths per million population are amid the lowest in the world. There is no sign of community transmission of COVID-19 in India. However, we have localized outbreaks in certain geographical areas. Out of 733 districts, only 49 districts account for 80% of COVID-19 cases”. The data has also been clarified by Union health minister Harsh Vardhan, during the 18 meetings of the High-level Group of Ministers(GoM) on COVID-19, he added.
As on daily norms, India is testing more than 2.6 lakhs samples for COVID-19. An ICMR official at the briefing said asserting that, testing has been ramped up in the country in a big way. Mr Rajesh said that the recovery cases of COVID-19 are 1.75 times that of active cases. People over 60 years accounts 53% of Indias COVID-19 deaths.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) lately released new guidelines on the transmission of the novel coronavirus that acknowledge some reports of airborne transmission of it but stopped short of confirming airborne spread.
Bhushan said, “We are keeping abreast with the information coming out of WHO headquarters on this particular aspect, but you would all appreciate and realize that even during the initial stages of the outbreak, we and Prime Minister had repeatedly emphasized ‘do-gaz ki doori’ (Two- meter distance).’ This theory helps you get protected from small droplets that remind sling in the air or any touchable thing for a longer period. It is an evolving and dynamic situation.”
The space between active and recovery rate of COVID-19 cases in India is progressively increasing. As per the 9th of July records, the recovery rate stands at 62.09%.
India has so far recorded 22,091 death cases. About 15% of COVID-19 deaths have been of people below the age of 45, while 53% of deaths have been among senior citizens. The high-risk population are the people who have crossed 45 years and who form 25% of the countries population. However, almost 85% of the COVID-19 deaths have occurred in this group.
Image Credits:- BloombergQuint
