Over 4mn workers administered dose
NEW DELHI: The Union health ministry on Tuesday said that 4.1 million health care workers have already been vaccinated against Covid-19 18 days after the vaccination drive was launched in the country, even as it deputed two high-level multi-disciplinary teams to Kerala and Maharashtra to help manage the spread of the disease in the two states that now make up as much as 70% of the total active case load in the country.
As many as 170,585 workers received the jab on Tuesday alone till 7pm, the government data stated. “At a time when almost all States and Union Territories are showing a declining trend in number of cases and deaths due to Covid-19, Kerala and Maharashtra continue to report large number of cases. At present, these two States alone are contributing to almost 70% active COVID-19 cases in the country,” the ministry said.
Of the 8,576 new Covid-19 cases reported on Monday, Kerala accounted for 3,459 and Maharashtra for 1,948. Kerala is reporting more cases, but it is Maharashtra where Covid-19 mortality is higher. Among 95 Covid-19 related deaths on reported on Monday from across the country, 27 deaths were reported from Maharashtra, followed by 16 deaths rom Kerala and seven from Tamil Nadu.
“These two states need to look for the cause behind rising numbers, and get to mitigating the reason. The expert teams will lend a helping hand like they have been doing in the past wherever positivity rate has shown an upward trend, contrary to the national pattern,” said a senior health ministry official, requesting anonymity.
The central team to Maharashtra comprises experts drawn from the National Centre for Disease Control and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi. The Kerala team shall consist of senior officials from the ministry of health, along with experts from the ministry’s regional office in Thiruvananthapuram, and New Delhi’s Lady Hardinge Medical College.
“The teams shall work closely with state health departments, take stock of on-ground situation and recommend necessary public health interventions to contain the large number of cases being reported by these States,” the ministry statement said. The government has begun scaling up the vaccination drive, with states like Gujarat and West Bengal also having started vaccinating front-line workers.