Four-fold increase in active Covid cases in Haryana in last 21 days

Despite the fresh surge, the state government is not considering imposing a lockdown as neighbouring Punjab and is focusing on increased vaccination, testing.

After recording a significant decline in the number of fresh Covid-19 cases till February, the state has once again started witnessing a surge. The number of active Covid cases has increased four-fold in the last 21 days — from 1,228 active cases on March 1 to 5,355 active cases on March 21. This number of active cases in Haryana was 2,440 on March 10.

At least two districts, Gurgaon and Karnal, are reporting a rapid increase in cases. On March 21, the number of active cases was 5,355 and 3,098 deaths. These include 933 active cases in Gurgaon followed by 890 in Karnal. Faridabad district, which had remained among the worst-affected districts in Haryana for the last several months, after Gurgaon, had 262 active cases as on March 21.

The number of active Covid cases on March 10 was 2,440 including 470 active cases in Gurgaon and 447 in Karnal. On March 1, Gurgaon had 342 active cases, while there were 154 in Karnal district.

State not considering lockdown

Despite the fresh surge, the state government is not considering imposing lockdown as neighbouring Punjab. “Lockdown is not an option being considered at this stage. Rather, our focus is on increasing the vaccination multiple times. On Monday and Tuesdays, we are holding mega vaccination camps and the daily vaccination is crossing 1-1.125 lakh doses. Simultaneously, once again we have ramped up our testing. Another measure that is being taken is tracing and tracking the contacts of Covid patients. We had been successful in bringing Covid-19 under control with the help of intensified testing, tracing and tracking measures. Besides this, mass awareness drives are also being held, ensuring that people follow Covid-19 safety protocol,” Haryana’s Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Rajeev Arora told The Indian Express.

At least 9.08 lakh people have already gotten vaccinated (including first and second dose) in Haryana till March 21. The number is likely to cross 11 lakh by Tuesday evening, according to health department officials’ estimate, Monday and Tuesday being observed as mega vaccination days. Till March 1, the number of people who had received the vaccine (including first and second dose) was 3.02 lakh.

As per the last one week’s testing report, the state had ramped up its testing to around 22,000 daily tests for the last three days. Over 1.08 lakh samples were tested in the last one week. While 8,615 people were tested on March 1, the number of samples taken on March 21 was 24,068. Health department officials say they will continue to ramp up daily testing in the coming days.

Till March 21, 4,856 plasma units were collected from recovered Covid patients and 3,296 Covid patients were given plasma therapy. To provide necessary medical guidance to people, a control room–cum–helpline of 30 lines has been made operational at Panchkula on which services of telemedicine are being provided to people round the clock.

According to health department officials, more than 77.58 lakh people have downloaded the Aarogya Setu app in Haryana. Haryana has 45,063 bedded quarantine facilities in dedicated Covid Care Centres and 13,654 beds are available in dedicated Covid hospitals and in dedicated Covid health centres.

On March 1, when the second phase of the vaccination drive commenced in Haryana, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had instructed the administrative secretaries to strictly enforce Covid-19 protocol across the state. Chairing a review meeting for the situation in Haryana, Khattar had also asked officers to commence a large scale drive across the state for imposing fines on those who are found without face masks. He had also asked officers to provide at least five free face masks to those found without their faces covered in public.

The Covid-19 positivity rate in Haryana on March 21 was 4.64 per cent, while the recovery rate was 96.98 per cent.

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