Union health ministry officials have said the next 40 days would be crucial for India and the country could see a surge in infections in January. The government is closely watching the Covid situation, with a surge in cases in many countries
Press Trust of India quoted a health ministry official and said the 40-day figure was arrived at after analysing previous trends. It has been noticed that a new wave of Covid-19 hits India around 30-35 days after it hits East Asia, PTI reported quoting the official.
A similar forecast was made by Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya last week. Going by previous experience, the health minister said it has been seen that the Covid wave generally takes 20 to 35 days to reach Southeast Asia. It begins in China, Japan and South Korea, then moves to the United States and Europe, followed by South America and then it hits South Asia.
However, so far the Covid cases in India continue to be low, with the last seven-day average remaining at around 188 cases per day. According to health ministry data, India reported 188 new cases in the last 24 hours with a daily positivity rate of 0.14% and a weekly positivity rate of 0.18%. India’s active caseload was at 3,468. Total recoveries were at 44,143,483. The total tests conducted so far were at 910.1 million, with 134,995 tests conducted in the last 24 hours.
The country has administered 2.20 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses, with 951.2 million receiving their second dose and 223.8 million getting the precaution dose. A total of 90,529 doses were administered in the last 24 hours.
The total number of active Coivd cases across the world was 20,923,263.
To ensure operational readiness to meet any surge in the country, mock drills were conducted across the 20,000 healthcare facilities.