India records 1890 COVID cases, prompts mock drills for hospital preparedness, Health News, ET HealthWorld
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India records 1890 COVID cases, prompts mock drills for hospital preparedness
To address these rising cases of COVID-19 and seasonal influenza, the health ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) issued a joint COVID-19 advisory to states yesterday, directing them to maintain optimum testing levels to identify emerging hot spots, amid an upsurge in cases since mid-February.
ETHealthWorld
March 26, 2023, 10:50 IST
New Delhi: India recorded 1890 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, bringing the active COVID caseload to 9,433, as reported by the Union Health Ministry. The current active caseload stands at 0.02 per cent. The daily COVID positivity rate has now climbed to 1.56 per cent, and the weekly positivity rate to 1.29 per cent.
Most of the active COVID-19 cases in the country are largely being reported by a few states like Kerala (26.4 per cent), Maharashtra (21.7 per cent), Gujarat (13.9 per cent), Karnataka (8.6 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (6.3 per cent).
To address these rising cases of COVID-19 and seasonal influenza, the health ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) issued a joint COVID-19 advisory to states yesterday, directing them to maintain optimum testing levels to identify emerging hot spots, amid an upsurge in cases since mid-February.
The government relayed that the total recovery from coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours is recorded to be 1051, bringing the total recovery tally to 4,41,63,883 since the onset of the pandemic, and the recovery rate to 98.79 per cent.
So far, 92.09 crore tests to diagnose COVID have been conducted in India, out of which 1,21,147 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours.
However, the joint advisory highlighted that in the past several weeks, COVID-19 testing has declined in some states and the current testing levels are insufficient as compared to the standards prescribed by the World Health Organisation (WHO), i.e 140 tests per million.
According to the Indian government, 220.65 crore doses of the COVID vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive. This tally comprises 95.20 crore second doses and 22.86 crore precaution doses. 7,955 doses of COVID vaccine were administered in the last 24 hours.
To tackle this viral threat to public health, the government is planning a nationwide mock drill on April 10 and 11 to take stock of hospital preparedness. According to the joint advisory, both public and private health facilities in all districts are expected to participate in the exercise aimed at taking stock of the availability of medicines, hospital beds, medical equipment and medical oxygen.
Additionally, the advisory reassured, "While the rates of hospitalization and death due to the disease remain low, largely because of the significant coverage achieved in terms of COVID-19 vaccination rates by all states and UTS, this gradual rise in cases needs reinvigorated public health actions to contain the surge.
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Sunday, March 26, 2023 at 5:20 am