Dr. Harsh Vardhan answered questions about the Covid pandemic on social media
New Delhi:
The Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan played down fears that the Covid outbreak in India has reached the community transmission stage, noting that “only 10 states are reporting maximum cases” and that most of them are in “few districts”.
During an hour-long interaction on social media on Sunday, the minister also rejected questions about the peak of the pandemic in India, stating that different parts of the country were “on multiple trajectories.”
“Large outbreaks in certain districts indicate acute spread … only 10 states contribute 77 percent of active cases. If you look at state-specific data, you will find that these cases are concentrated in a few districts,” said Dr. Vardhan.
“India is on multiple trajectories in urban, semi-urban and rural populations,” he added.
The health minister’s comment comes a day after his Delhi counterpart Satyendar Jain attacked the center for his insistence that India has not yet entered the community transmission stage.
Jain, who recovered from a Covid infection in June, noted a “large-scale” increase in cases, saying “we should have accepted that there is spread in the community.”
“I think we are stuck in technical terms here … but only the ICMR (the country’s main medical research body) or the central government can comment on this,” he said.
In recent weeks, India has seen a steady increase in the number of new infections; more than 80,000 have signed up every day since September 10. The total number of active cases has exceeded 10 lakh and deaths are approaching 90,000.
India has more than 54 lakh of confirmed COVID-19 cases
Government data this morning showed that India had recorded more recoveries than new infections for the second day in a row.
However, the average increase has raised concerns about a second wave, which, if true, will come when medical infrastructure in major cities is already under pressure.
Earlier this month, the center pointed to 17 districts in the three worst affected states, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, but also, on several occasions, noted that a small number of states are contributing to the high number of Covid cases.
Meanwhile, the Health Minister also downplayed fears that the highly infectious COVID-19 had mutated, saying “no significant or drastic mutations had been found.”
Dr Vardhan also discussed the issue of Covid vaccines and assured the public that one candidate’s trials developed by the University of Oxford and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, which were halted after concerns about a participant’s health, had been stopped. restarted “after re-evaluations by the expert committee.”
The Serum Institute of India (SII), which has an agreement with vaccine candidate developers to mass produce it if it passes the tests, is also ready to restart its tests.
Last week the minister said he would be the first to take the vaccine, once it is ready, to end a “confidence deficit” about its efficacy.
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