Covid positivity up 11% in two weeks; daily cases set to hit 200,000 today

In India, 92% adults have received their first dose, while 68% are fully vaccinated

With daily Covid cases touching nearly 200,000 in less than a fortnight, India’s case positivity rate, too, has gone up from 1 per cent on December 30, 2021, to over 11 per cent on Wednesday. The number of districts with a positive rate of more than 5 per cent has grown nearly fourfold in the past one week, from less than 80 to 300 on January 11, according to the health ministry data.

There are eight states where weekly cases and the positivity rates have risen sharply in the past one week. In Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Gujarat, active cases have jumped between sixfold and elevenfold.

Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, for instance, have seen elevenfold increase in active cases in the past week. In Rajasthan active cases have risen by a factor of 9.6. Among districts of concern, Kolkata’s weekly positivity rate is more than 60 per cent.

“The data from metros clarifies that Omicron is fast replacing Delta in India. But Delta has not gone away completely. We should, however, not treat Omicron as a common cold. One of the reasons its effect is mild is also because vaccinations have happened,” said V K Paul, chairman of the national Covid task force, and member-health NITI Aayog, while addressing a weekly media briefing on the Covid situation in India.

Quoting a New York State health department study, the health ministry said that starting December 13, 2021, fully-vaccinated people had around 78 per cent lower chance of getting infected, compared to the unvaccinated.

“Across the time period of analysis, since May 2021, the fully-vaccinated population had between 90.2 and 95.7 per cent lower chance of being hospitalised with Covid, compared to the unvaccinated population,” the study said.

In India, 92 per cent adults have received their first dose, while 68 per cent are fully vaccinated. Thirty-eight per cent of those between the 15 and 17 years of age have taken their first dose. 

The government also assured that the country is in “very good shape with regard to the testing capabilities”.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director-General Balram Bhargava, while elaborating on the manufacturing capacities of different test kits, explained, “The lateral flow tests, such as the rapid and home antigen test kits, can detect Covid infection from Day 3 to Day 7.”

India has a maximum capacity of producing 9.7 million such test kits per day. Kits, such as OmiSure, developed by Tata MD, have been checked and validated by ICMR-National Institute of Virology for detecting Omicron cases and will be rolled out soon.

Misuse of drugs

The government has warned against the overuse and misuse of certain drugs in the treatment of Covid, such as the use of steroids and several other drugs not part of the national Covid treatment protocol.

Officials also warned against the rampant irrational use of Merck’s antiviral drug Molnupiravir. After extensively debating the issue, the national expert group of Covid treatment protocol has said the drug has certain risks that warrants caution. Its known and unknown harms far outweigh the claimed benefits, the expert committee has said.

Bhargava, detailing the expert group’s position on the matter, said, “According to the currently available information, it does not merit inclusion in the national treatment guideline. Evolving science will dictate how we proceed further.”

The drug approved by the Drugs Controller General of India is to be used under very narrow circumstances - among the elderly and the unvaccinated with other comorbidities. “There is no benefit of the drug in diabetics, previously infected or vaccinated,” clarified Bhargava.

The government also said that medicines have contributed to a great extent in the rising cases of mucormycosis. “There is guilt that there has been an overuse of medicines. Steroids disturb medical pathways and immunological protection. Now we are more aware and we do not want this to happen,” said Paul.

He said the general public should be aware of the national treatment protocol which has been made after much thought by the best minds in the field of medicine.

The Ministry of AYUSH also shared its recommendations for treating and preventing Covid during the Omicron wave at a media briefing. It has said that based on research evidence, its Ayuraksha kit can be used as a prophylaxis against Covid. Besides recommending 'kadha' (ayurvedic drink prepared with herbs and spices) for Covid patients in the current wave, the ministry has also prescribed pills for the management of asymptomatic to moderately ill patients, along with homeopathy and Unani interventions.

The AYUSH ministry’s Special Secretary P K Pathak told reporters that during the entire AYUSH intervention, 139 scientific research studies were carried out and several manuscripts published and peer-reviewed.

A good immune system is necessary for the prevention of disease. Research studies have shown that the AYUSH-64 pill assists in faster recovery and prevents severe disease,” he said.