India reported 30,549 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, taking its overall Covid-19 tally to 3,17,26,507, according to data from the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday. 

The number of active cases declined after six days to 4,04,958, which comprises 1.28% of the total infections, the health ministry said. The death toll climbed to 4,25,195 with 422 fresh fatalities.

Even as India’s Covid situation has been under control, as many as 13 states/UT have witnessed a surge in Coronavirus infections last week. Kerala once acknowledged for its Covid management globally, has now become a national concern. The southern state has been reporting half of India’s new Covid-19 cases for the past few days. Last week, Kerala reported 1.4 lakh new Covid-19 cases (highest in India), around 20,000 more than the previous week. 

The test positivity rate in the state, after holding steady nearly all of July, is now inching upwards. Part of this surge might be attributed to the fact that the state had the lowest seroprevalence. The high-level multi-disciplinary central team, which is currently visiting the state, is learnt to have concluded that inadequate monitoring of Covid positive cases in home isolation because of pandemic fatigue is the reason behind the surge. Kerala has the highest number of districts with a Covid-19 positivity rate of over 10%.

In the week ended August 1, states/UTs like Kerala, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Mizoram, J&K, Sikkim, and Karnataka have also witnessed a spike in Covid-19 cases, which is worrying. India’s ‘R’ value (reproduction number), a key indicator of how fast the Covid-19 virus is infecting people, has also gone above 1. Except for Mumbai and Pune, all most all major cities in the country are reporting ‘R’ value above 1.

In a positive development, the Indian Council of Medical Research said, Bharat Biotech’s vaccine Covaxin is effective against the Delta Plus variant of Covid-19. It may prove crucial in India’s fight against Coronavirus as the variant is predicted to cause the next wave of coronavirus infections in the country.

In the meanwhile, several states/UTs have reopened schools for physical classes almost after over a year. Schools in Punjab have reopened for all classes from Monday. Classes have also resumed in schools in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Uttarakhand. The Uttar Pradesh government yesterday announced to reopen schools and colleges this month.

BDST: 1654 HRS, AUG 4, 2021
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