India sees 38,949 new Covid cases, recovery rate over 97%
India on Saturday recorded 38,949 fresh cases of Covid-19 and 542 fatalities. The active cases have declined to 4,30,422 and comprise 1.39 per cent of the total infections, while the national recovery rate now is 97.28 per cent.
Meanwhile, France said on Saturday that it would allow international travellers who have had AstraZeneca’s Indianmanufactured vaccine into the country starting Sunday (today).
A dip in fresh cases has been noticed in Maharashtra but Kerala still continues to have very high reporting of daily new cases. In the North East, Manipur is having a high number of daily cases.
The Union health ministry on Saturday clarified that there is not enough evidence to link the increase in tuberculosis cases in India to Covid-19. The ministry said there have been some reports alleging that a sudden rise in cases of TB has been noticed among patients who were infected with Covid-19 recently, leaving the doctors worried about receiving around a dozen similar cases every day.
“It is clarified that TB screening for all Covid-19 positive patients and Covid-19 screening for all diagnosed TB patients has been recommended by ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW). States/UTs have been asked for convergence in efforts for better surveillance and case finding of TB and Covid-19, as early as August 2020. Apart from this, multiple advisories and guidance have also
■ Continued from Page 1 been issued by MoHFW to reiterate the need for bidirectional screening of TB-Covid and TBILI/SARI. The States/ UTs have been implementing the same. Due to the impact of COVID-19 related restrictions, case notifications for TB had decreased by about 25% in 2020 but special efforts are being made to mitigate this impact through intensified case finding in OPD settings as well as through active case finding campaigns in the community by all States,” the ministry said.
It added that while there is not enough evidence to link TB with COVID-19, the dual morbidity of TB and COVID-19 can be further highlighted through the facts that both the diseases are known to be infectious and primarily attack the lungs, presenting similar symptoms of cough, fever and difficulty in breathing, although TB has a longer incubation period and a slower onset of disease. Furthermore, TB bacilli can be present in humans in a dormant state and has the potential to start multiplying when the individual’s immunity is compromised for any reason. The same is applicable in post COVID scenario, when an individual may develop decreased immunity due the virus itself or due to the treatment, especially immunesuppressants like steroids. The ministry added that the SARS-CoV2 infection can make an individual more susceptible to developing active TB disease, as TB is an opportunistic infection like black fungus.
Meanwhile, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has said it has not received any application from the Serum Institute of India for authorisation of Covishield. The EU has introduced the Digital Covid Certificate that makes intra-EU travel possible after being vaccinated with some vaccines.
“For the Covid19-vaccine Covishield to be evaluated for use in the EU, the developer needs to submit a formal marketing authorisation application to EMA, which to date has not been received,” the EMA said.