New Covid cases decline; vaccination drive set to be ramped up

Daily coronavirus recoveries continued to outnumber the new positive cases for the 18th consecutive day on Monday, with the second wave of the pandemic showing a declining trend.

According to the health ministry, the case positivity rate too remained below 10 per cent for seven consecutive days and had settled at 9.07 per cent on Monday, while the recovery rate remained above 91 per cent for five successive days.

The death toll too maintained the declining trend with 3,128 deaths reported on Monday taking the total deaths to 3,29,100.

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Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, in a virtual meeting with state and UT officers, also asked states to increase the pace of the vaccination drive as nearly 12 crore doses would be available to them during June.

“Nearly 12 crore (11,95,70,000) doses will be available to States and UTs in June 2021 enabling them to ramp up the vaccination numbers,” he said adding that they should focus on setting up vaccination centres nearer to homes of the elderly and differently-abled.

The number of people who have recovered from the disease in last the 24 hours increased by 2,38,022 taking the total persons cured of Covid-19 to 2,56,92,342. The case fatality rate stands at 1.17 per cent.

The total number of tests reported on Sunday were 16,83,135, taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far in the country to 34,48,66,883.

The active cases have further reduced to 20,26,092, comprising 7.22 per cent of the total infections.

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Bhushan asked the state governments to focus on a community-based approach and conduct vaccination sessions in non-health facilities such as community centres, RWA offices, schools, old age home and panchayat offices nearer to the homes to ensure that the differently-abled and the elderly get their jabs.

The state and UT officers were also asked to proactively engage with private hospitals for Covid-19 vaccination and set up a team of two to three officials to coordinate with vaccine manufacturers to ensure timely supplies of vaccine doses.