Over 90% in India are still vulnerable to the Covid-19 infection

0
53
Over 90% in India are still vulnerable to the Covid-19 infection.
(Photo courtesy: CNN)

(TibetanReview.net, Sep30’20) – More than 90 per cent of Indians are still vulnerable to the Covid-19 infection because they have not yet been exposed to it, the second sero survey by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) was reported to have found Sep 29. This means there is no question of talking about India reaching herd immunity, which is seen as one way in which the pandemic could come to an end.

“The prevalence of COVID-19 among individuals aged 10 years plus was found to be 6.6 per cent. The prevalence was not different by age group and gender. Urban slum showed the highest risk gradient with the prevalence of 15.6 pc as against 8.2 pc in urban non-slums and 4.4 pc in rural areas. The prevalence in adults – more than 18 years – was found at 7.1 per cent which is more than 0.73 per cent prevalence found in the 18 years plus category in the last sero survey that ascertained the prevalence of the infection until May end,” Chief of the ICMR Balram Bhargava has said.

The sero surveys detect the presence of antibodies in the blood samples of people. Presence of antibodies reveals past exposure to the virus.

India continues to be the country reporting the world’s highest daily number of new Covid-19 infections. It recorded more than 2.5 million cases in September alone, accounting for 41% of its total caseload since the pandemic hit the country. The grim milestone was reached on Sep 29, when fresh cases climbed back to over 80,000 after a big drop the previous day, noted the timesofindia.com Sep 30.

***

The latest data from India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare show that there were 80,472 new cases and 1179 new deaths in the country in the past 24 hours as of Sep 30 at 8AM, taking their totals to 6,225,763 cases and 97,479 deaths.

A total of 5,187,825, or 83.33%, had recovered while the number of active cases was 940,441, or 15.11% of the total. The case fatality rate was 1.57%. These were mostly improvements over the previous day’s figures.

The latest daily number of new cases, at 80,472 was more than the daily number of those who had recovered, at 86,428, leading to decrease in the number of active cases by 7,135.

India is currently the country with the world’s second highest number of Covid-19 cases and the third highest number of deaths.

***

Four states, namely Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu have accumulated more than 590,000 cases each in that order.

Fourteen other states, namely Utttar Pradesh, Delhi, West Bengal, Odisha, Telangana, Kerala, Bihar, Assam, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, and Chattisgarh had reported more than 110,000 cases each so far in that order.

Two other states/ Union Territories, namely Jharkhand, and Jammu & Kashmir had reported more than 74,000 cases each so far in that order.

Seven more states/Union Territories, namely Uttarakhand, Goa, Puducherry, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, and Manipur reported more than 10,000 cases each in that order.

Besides, there were eight other states/Union Territories with a total more than 1,900 cases each, namely Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Ladakh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Sikkim, and Mizoram in that order.

Maharashtra also had the most number of deaths at 36,181 (↑430); followed by Tamil Nadu with more than 9,400 deaths, Karnataka with over 8,700 deaths; Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi with more than 5,300 deaths each; West Bengal with over 4,800 deaths; Gujarat and Punjab with more than 3,300 deaths each; Madhya Pradesh with more than 2,200 deaths; Rajasthan, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, and Telangana with 1,100 or more deaths each; Chattisgarh, Bihar, Odisha, Kerala, Jharkhand, Assam, and Uttarakhand, with between 916 and 591 deaths each, and so on in that order.

***

The total number of Covid-19 cases among Tibetans in India, Nepal and Bhutan had remained unchanged at 371 (↑0), of whom 161 were active, 198 had recovered and 12 had died, according to the tally of the Central Tibetan Administration as of Sep 30.

***

Across the world the number of Covid-19 cases totaled 33,670,256 and the deaths 1,008,313, according to the tally of Johns Hopkins University as of 1:53 PM on Sep 30, 2020.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here