An SBI research report on Monday predicted that India may witness the third wave of COVID-19 from August 2021 and peak in September, according to several media reports.
The report entitled COVID-19: The race to finishing line says that India achieved its second wave peak on 7 May and that “going by the current data, India can experience around 10,000 cases somewhere around the 2nd week of July. However, the cases can start rising by the second fortnight of August,” the report added, as per Livemint.
This, as India witnessed a single-day rise of 39,796 new COVID infections, which took its tally of cases to 3,05,85,229, while the toll climbed to 4,02,728 with 723 more fatalities, the lowest in 88 days, according to Union health ministry data updated on Monday.
The active cases have further declined to 4,82,071 and comprise 1.58 percent of the total infections, while the national COVID recovery rate has improved to 97.11 percent, the data updated at 8 am showed. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.61 percent. It has been less than five percent for 28 consecutive days, it said. It said that there has been a decline of 3,279 active cases in a span of 24 hours.
The weekly positivity rate has declined to 2.4 percent, according to the health ministry. Recoveries continue to outnumber daily cases for 53 consecutive days, it said, adding that the number of people who have recuperated from the disease has risen to 2,97,00,430. The case fatality rate stands at 1.32 percent, the data stated.
The Centre also said more than 2.01 crore balance and unutilised COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with states, UTs and private hospitals to be administered. Over 36.97 crore vaccine doses have been provided to states and UTs so far through all sources. Of this, the total consumption including wastage is 34,95,74,408 doses, the ministry said.
The Centre is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country. The new phase of universalisation of COVID-19 vaccination commenced on June 21. The vaccination drive has been ramped up through the availability of more vaccines, advance visibility of vaccine availability to states and UTs for enabling better planning by them, and streamlining the vaccine supply chain.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, flagging off the CoWIN Global Conclave, offered India’s technological platform spearheading its COVID-19 vaccination drive. as a “digital public good” to the world. Addressing the CoWIN Global Conclave via video-conference, he said the platform is being made open source so that it is available to all countries. He said vaccination is the best hope for humanity to emerge from the pandemic successfully and noted that India decided to adopt a completely digital approach for the exercise.
Bihar govt eases COVID curbs; colleges, gyms to reopen
The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar on Monday allowed reopening of colleges, universities and senior sections in schools, besides easing several other curbs that are in place as part of the COVID-induced lockdown clamped on the state two months ago. The announcement to the effect was made by the chief minister on his Twitter handle after he chaired a meeting of the high-powered crisis management group which reviewed theCOVID-19 situation in the state.
According to detailed guidelines issued by the home department later, the next phase of unlocking will begin from Wednesday, 7 July, and remain in force for a month. During the period, lessons will be imparted in schools for students of classes XI and XII with not more than 50 percent attendance and the same will be applicable to colleges, universities and technical institutes. However, none of these educational institutions was given permission to conduct examinations during the period. Coaching institutes, too, will remain closed.
Strict compliance with standard operating procedure and special arrangements for vaccination at all educational institutions will be a must, the home department stated. Gyms, clubs, and swimming pools would also be allowed to resume business with 50 percent capacity, and only those who have been vaccinated would be permitted to use these facilities.
Stadiums and sports complexes may permit entry of sportspersons for their practice sessions, though no other activity shall be allowed, the notification said. Restaurants have been told to resume dine-in facilities with 50 percent capacity.
All government and private offices will be able to function “normally”, doing away with the previous cap of 50 percent attendance, though those in charge of these establishments will have to ensure that only vaccinated people are given entry. Other restrictions such as shops except those dealing in essential items being allowed to open only on alternate days and not beyond 7 pm, besides night curfew from 9 pm to 5 am, will continue to remain in force.
Places of religious worship will remain closed. However, the number of people allowed to take part in wedding ceremonies or funerals has been raised to 50. Earlier, only 25 people were permitted at such gatherings.
Uttarakhand extends COVID curfew by a week
The Uttarakhand government on Monday extended the COVID-19 curfew till July 13. “COVID-curfew extended till 6 am of July 13, 2021. Malls to reopen at 50% capacity and markets to remain closed on weekends,” said Uttarakhand Govt Spokesperson Subodh Uniyal. He further said that the remaining provisions of COVID-19 lockdown have been kept the same, which are currently in force.
Meanwhile, Uttarakhand on Sunday recorded 78 fresh cases of COVID-19. With this, the cumulative tally of COVID-19 cases in the hill state surged to 3,40,724. There are 1,749 active cases in the state. According to the state health department, the death toll due to the virus shot up to 7,333 after two more fatalities on Sunday. The recovery rate of the hill state stood at 95.59 per cent after 144 more people recovered from the virus. So far 3,25,692 people have recovered from the virus in the state.
With inputs from agencies