India recorded a 51% jump in weekly Covid-19 cases, with the current week’s numbers 130,000 higher than the count in the previous seven days, making it the biggest weekly spike in coronavirus infections till date. Deaths too registered the sharpest-ever rise of 51%, with 1,875 fatalities during the week, the highest since December 21-27.
With fresh cases hitting a 168-day high of 68,266 on Sunday as Maharashtra reported a record 40,414 infections, India logged more than 390,000 cases during the week (March 22-28), the highest since the October 12-18 week, when the count was 430,000. Last week (March 15-21) had seen a 67% surge with cases increasing by over 100,000 as compared to the previous week. Together, the last weeks have seen the worst surge in cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
India’s total Covid-19 caseload crossed 12 million on Sunday. With pandemic numbers on the rise again, the last one million cases came in 35 days, nearly half the time taken for the previous one million (65 days). Active cases of the virus also topped 500,000, with a record single-day rise of 35,703 on Sunday. This was the fastest-ever rise of 100,000 active cases, with the count rising from 400,000 to 500,000 in just three days. Deaths have been on the rise as well. The current week’s death toll of 1,875 was not just the highest this year but also a 51% increase over the previous week’s fatalities - the sharpest increase yet in the weekly fatality count.
Cases in Gujarat cross 300,000
Gujarat added 2,270 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, taking the cumulative tally past 300,000 cases. The state became 13th in India to clock three lakh cases. As Gujarat had reported its first two cases on March 19, it took 374 days to go past the landmark, averaging 804 daily cases. As the state also recorded 4,492 cumulative deaths with eight new deaths in 24 hours, the mortality rate is1.5%.
Analysis of the cases reveals that four districts – Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, and Rajkot – accounted for 64% of the cumulative cases and 85% of deaths. Ahmedabad district recorded the highest 70,857 cases, followed by Surat (63,040) and Vadodara (33,577). Ahmedabad has recorded 2,345 deaths, followed by Surat (1,006) and Vadodara (246). n Sunday 11,528 active cases were reported, the highest in100 days.
Anyone over 45 years can get shots
In a move to expand coverage of the vaccination programme and step up the fight against a resurgence of Covid-19 infections, the government announced that anyone above 45 years of age, without any requirement to show comorbidities, can get the shots from April 1. Following the announcement, over 340 million people in all are estimated to be eligible for vaccinations. At present, people above 60 and those in the 45-60 age group with specified comorbidities, can take the jab.
The decision to expand the age eligibility comes at a time when calls for faster rollout of the shots are rising. Even though the pace of vaccinations has been accelerating, the rollout has been uneven with states reporting unfulfilled capacities and below-expectation participation of private sector hospitals.
It was felt that allowing more people to take the shots would increase the pool of people willing to receive the vaccines and this would more optimally utilise the capacities of some 50,000 government and private hospitals enrolled on the Co-Win portal. It was found that several private hospitals were sporadically scheduling the shots or not at all. The expanded eligibility could increase demand and incentivise hospitals and states to create more sessions.
