Opening up may not hit Covid-19 downswing: Govt

The ministry also said that while Covid-19 testing has increased manifold

With the second wave of Covid-19 on a downward slope, a top health official on Thursday said that the Centre believed such a slide would continue even when the restrictions imposed by the states are lifted.

“It is reassuring that we are on the downswing of the second wave. We do believe and hope it will be sustained even when restrictions are gently, systematically and cautiously removed as the time comes,” said NITI Ayog member V K Paul, who chairs the National Expert Group on vaccine administration for Covid-19.

Paul made his comments soon after a Union Health Ministry official made a presentation on the southern movement of the Covid-19 curve after reaching a peak on May 7 when 4.14 lakh fresh cases were reported in a single day.

Since then the numbers are decreasing steadily with less than 3 lakh daily new cases being reported for the last ten days since May 17. In the last 24 hours, 2.11 lakh new cases were reported from all over the country.

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The number of active cases fell to 24 lakh on May 27 from the peak of 37.45 lakh recorded on May 10. As many as 24 states reported a decline in active cases since last week. The states that did not report such a decline are Tamil Nadu, Odisha and the entire Northeast.

The positivity rate also dropped from a high of 21.5 per cent recorded between April 29 and May 5 to 10.45 per cent logged between May 20-26, said Lav Agaiwal, joint secretary in the health ministry.

While the testing – mostly the rapid antigen tests - has increased multifold, there is a steady decline in weekly positivity since the last three weeks.

"We continue to note stabilisation of the second wave in most parts of India, both in the number of cases and declining positivity rate. It's reassuring that it happened despite sustained and high overall testing. But we must remember that we are achieving this in the face of significant restrictions in most states,” Paul said.

However, 313 districts still have a positivity rate higher than 10 per cent as the epidemic is now largely being driven by Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, West Bengal and the northeastern states.

The Union Home Ministry has asked the states to identify districts where either the tests positivity had been more than 10 per cent or more in the last one week or where bed occupancy was more than 60 per cent. The states should consider taking intensive and local containment measures in such districts, it said.