INDIA’S COVID-19 DEATHS SEEING ‘SHARP-GROWTH’ OF 10.2%, CASES RISING ALARMINGLY

On Saturday (17th April), the Central Government said, COVID-19 deaths in India are witnessing a sharp growth of 10.2%. Along with this, the new COVID-19 cases are increasing rapidly. The Union Health Minister, Harsh Vardhan in a high-level meeting with the health ministers of all 11 states said, “New COVID cases in the country are growing at the sharpest rate of 7.6%” During June 2020, the growth in new cases was 5.5%, and this year, the growth rate is 1.3 times higher. Currently, the daily rise in active cases stands at 16,79,000. The COVID-19 situation in India is going from bad to worse. Currently, the daily deaths might rise up to 2,320. It is necessary to gain control over the situation. Several states have already imposed curfews & lockdowns in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The Union Health Ministry held this meeting for reviewing the COVID-19 situation in the 11 highly affected states (Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Gujarat, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and Kerala). The availability of medical oxygen, medicines, ventilators, and hospital beds was also reviewed. The increasing gap between the daily cases and daily recoveries indicates that the infection is spreading at a faster rate than recoveries. Government has boosted India’s health infrastructure Health Infrastructure has been boosted over the past year, in order to fight the crisis. At the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, there was just one lab for testing COVID-19, and currently, India has 2,463 testing labs. These labs together can test up to 15 lakh samples on daily basis. The three-tier health infrastructure which is specially developed for COVID-19 patients includes 12,673 COVID-19 care centers, 4,043 health centers dedicated for COVID-19, and 2,084 dedicated COVID-19 hospitals (89 under the center and 1,995 with the states). Together they have 18,52,265 beds, out of which 4,68,974 beds are in dedicated COVID-19 hospitals. Over 5,000 ventilators will be provided to the states soon A fresh supply of life-saving ventilators will be provided to the states soon. This includes Maharashtra – 1,121 ventilators, Gujarat – 1,600, Uttar Pradesh – 1,700, Jharkhand – 1,500, Chhattisgarh – 230, and Madhya Pradesh – 152. The Union Health Minister also clarified that there is no shortage of the COVID-19 vaccines and new stocks will be replenished after every seven days in small states, and for big states, it is four days.