India records 13,993 new COVID-19 cases, highest in almost 22 days

Frontline workers stand in a queue to receive their first dose of Covaxin vaccine, during a COVID-19 inoculation drive, at Sanjeevan Hospital in New Delhi on Saturday. Pic/PTI

Daily COVID-19 cases in the country climbed to about 14,000 after nearly 22 days, taking India's tally to 1,09,77,387, while the recoveries surged to 1,06,78,048, according to Union Health Ministry on Saturday.

A total of 13,993 new cases were registered in a span of 24 hours. The death toll increased to 101 daily new fatalities. On January 29, 18,855 daily cases were recorded.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,06,78,048, which translates to a national recovery rate of 97.27 per cent, and the case fatality rate stands at 1.42 per cent.

The COVID-19 active caseload remained below 1.5 lakh.

Upsurge in five states
Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have recorded an "upsurge" in daily new cases of COVID-19.

In a statement, the ministry said in the last seven days, Chhattisgarh has also seen a rise in daily active new cases. In the last 24 hours, 259 daily new cases have been reported, it said. Kerala continues to report a high number of daily new cases and in the past week, Maharashtra has exhibited a spike in the number of daily new cases, accounting for the highest number of daily new cases in the country on Saturday, the ministry said in the statement.

Similar to Maharashtra, the ministry said Punjab has also shown a sudden spike in the number of daily new cases reported in the last seven days with 383 fresh cases recorded in the last 24 hours.

"Since February 13, Madhya Pradesh has also also witnessing a rise in the number of daily new cases. In the last 24 hours, 297 daily new cases have been registered in the state," it said.

Woman dies after taking jab
A 48-year-old Anganwadi worker in Manipur died a week after receiving her first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, officials said on Saturday.

W Sundari Devi of Kumbi Terakha area in Bishunpur district had received her first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine on February 12 at Kumbhi primary health centre (PHC), they said.

She was taken to the Moirang community health centre (CHC) on February 18 as she had breathing problems and died at the CHC on Friday. Health Department officials said that a special team will conduct the post-mortem of the deceased to ascertain the true cause of the death.

‘Large-scale rollout of vax'
Terming the recent drop in COVID-19 cases in the country as a "small window of opportunity", AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria on Saturday called for a public-private partnership (PPP) for rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination programme at a large scale.

Guleria said the vaccine is the only weapon available to gain immunity and help reduce mortality rate due to the infectious disease.

He noted that there was a need to put healthcare at the centrestage and not consider it only as a service sector.

"As far as vaccination is concerned there is still a lot to do and I think there has to be more private public partnership," the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) director said.

There is a need to gradually start opening up in order to cover large number of people, he noted.

"Vaccinating health care workers and front line workers is probably the easy part as far as Phase 1 is concerned as you know who needs to be vaccinated. The number is not that large. "Once you start the process to vaccinate 27 crore individuals, in that scenario we must have a robust programme in place where you have the list of people to be vaccinated," Guleria said.

1,09,77,387
Total number of cases in the country as of Saturday

1,56,212
Total no. of deaths due to the virus in India

1,06,78,048
Patients Recovered and discharged in india as of Saturday

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