'COVID-19 cases down 50 pc in past 8 weeks, Delhi has 61 pc of deaths'

Picture used for representational purpose only

Providing details of the overall Covid-19 situation in the country, the Centre has informed the Supreme Court that the average cases per day have reduced by 50 per cent since the past 8 weeks, and currently, only 2 states have more than 50,000 cases, contributing almost 33 per cent of the overall active cases.

Delhi constitutes 62 per cent of the nationwide active cases and 61 per cent of the total deaths, the apex court was told.

The Union Home Ministry emphasised that the Covid situation in the country is being constantly monitored by the Office of the Prime Minister.

And, on November 11, the Cabinet Secretary also reviewed the Covid-19 situation in eight states/UTs including NCT of Delhi, and emphasised on effective dissemination of ICE campaign, strict implementation of guidelines for Covid appropriate behaviour and rigor of containment measures, it said.

In this meeting, it was found that Delhi is broadly lagging on various counts for effective Covid-19 management, the Ministry said.

These shortcomings led to a massive increase in the Covid infection and the increasing strain on the capacity of medical infrastructure in the hospitals with the National Capital Territory, it said. As a consequence, the Union Home Minister was constrained to call another review meeting on November 15, where he reviewed the Covid19 situation in Delhi, it added.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, in an affidavit, said currently 10 states contribute almost 77 per cent of the active case load in the country. These are: Maharashtra (18.9 per cent), Kerala (14.7), Delhi (8.5), West Bengal (5.7), Karnataka (5.6), Uttar Pradesh (5.4), Rajasthan (5.5), Chhattisgarh (5.0), Haryana (4.7) and Andhra Pradesh (3.1).

"Our case fatality rate remains low at 1.46 per cent, when compared to a global average of 2.36 per cent. We stand at a total death count of 0.13 million," said the affidavit.

The MHA said it will continue making efforts to bring the CFR (case fatality rate) down to less than 1 per cent, and accelerate efforts in reducing the positivity rate, which stands at 6.9 per cent, and India is now testing, on an average, almost 1.1 million samples daily.

It submitted that as on November 24, a total of 15,454 dedicated Covid treatment facilities with 1,54,6983 dedicated isolation beds (including 2,67,886 101 oxygen supported beds) have been identified. Also, a total of 79,005 ICU beds (including 40,183 ventilator beds) have been earmarked in these facilities.

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