Covid-19 Wrap-up: Surge in Kerala continues; students return to school in new normal setting

A surge in daily Covid-19 cases in Kerala post-Onam celebrations continues with the state witnessing over 30,000 fresh cases daily, pusing India's single-day cases above 40,000.

Kerala Health Minister Veena George, however, said that the ongoing surge of Covid-19 in Kerala is not that high as projected by experts.

India on Wednesday reported 41,965 new Covid-19 cases, 33,964 recoveries and 460 deaths in the last 24 hours, Union Health Ministry data showed. India's total tally of cases rose to 3,28,10,845, while active cases have increased to 3,78,181, according to Union health ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The world, on Monday, passed the grim threshold of 45 lakh Covid-19 deaths, according to an AFP tally, as the virulent Delta variant wreaks havoc globally. Since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, the virus has killed a total of 45,00,620 people, the tally of official sources revealed.

The coronavirus continues to mutate as the scientific community highlight new variants of interest and concerns across the globe. The World Health Organization has said it is monitoring a new coronavirus variant known as "Mu", which was first identified in Colombia in January. Mu, known scientifically as B.1.621, has been classified as a "variant of interest", the global health body said Tuesday in its weekly pandemic bulletin.

Another deadlier variant of Covid-19 - C.1.2 - has been detected in several countries. Hence, Kerala is making special arrangements at airports to screen visitors from those nations. Visitors from countries where the new variant has been detected will be subjected to RT-PCR tests on arrival here and if necessary, they would be quarantined, the CM said in the Covid review meeting.

Owing to the surge in Kerala, the Karnataka government has decided to enforce a seven-day institutional quarantine for people visiting the state from neighbouring Kerala. Hotels, convention centres and other makeshift facilities will be used for accommodating people visiting the state from Kerala.

Meanwhile, wearing masks and carrying umbrellas as heavy rains lashed Delhi, students of classes 9-12 returned to schools after they reopened on Wednesday following a long hiatus due to Covid-19. Some institutions, however, chose to adopt a wait-and-watch approach and have decided to call children for physical classroom studies only after a few weeks. Physical classes in Karnataka will start for classes 6 to 8 from September 6 with authorities relying on the ‘success’ of its earlier decision to reopen schools for classes 9 to 12.

As the government gears up for a possible third Covid-19 wave that is predicted to hit the country anytime between September and October, experts stand divided on the intensity of the wave. While an expert panel, set up by the National Institute of Disaster Management under the Ministry of Home Affairs, said that during the third wave children will be at similar risk as adults since paediatric facilities, doctors and equipment like ventilators and ambulances are nowhere close to what may be required in case a large number of them become infected, two of India's foremost experts strongly differed in their assessments.

In line with the central expert panel's projection on the third wave of Covid-19, the Srinagar district has been witnessing an increase in the positive percentage, indicating the onset of the third wave. Dr Rather, who works in the Divisional Covid Control Room in Kashmir, said the rise is significant and “possibly signalling the onset of the third wave in Kashmir.”

The rate of infection among children and adolescents has also been on the rise for the last two weeks in Odisha. Thus the government said that an ongoing serological surveillance on Covid-19 will focus on those below 18 years. The rate of infection among those below 18 years has gone over 17 per cent, which is alarming, experts said.

On the economic growth front, the coronavirus continues to batter India’s damaged economy, putting growing pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to nurture a nascent recovery and get the country back to work. The coronavirus, which has struck in two waves, has killed hundreds of thousands of people and at times has brought cities to a halt. Infections and deaths have eased, and the country is returning to work. Economists predict that growth could surge in the second half of the year on paper.

On the vaccine news front, Japan's Kanagawa prefecture said it has found another vial of Moderna Inc's Covid-19 vaccine suspected of containing a foreign substance and has put the rest of the lot on hold. Japan suspended the use of 1.63 million doses of Moderna shots last week after being notified of contamination in some of the supply. Moderna and Spanish pharma company Rovi, which bottles Moderna vaccines, have said the cause could be a manufacturing issue, and European safety regulators have launched an investigation.