New Delhi : Covid cases jumped with India recording 20,139 new cases and 38 deaths in the last 24 hours, as health officials prepared to offer free booster doses to all adults.
“Around 20,139 new cases were reported with 136,076 active caseload shooting up in the last 24 hours,” the ministry said. This shows an increase of 30% in new cases as compared to the previous day.
With the increasing number of COVID cases across India and low offtake of booster doses, the Union Health Ministry is launching a mission mode campaign from 15th July to provide free booster doses to all adults.
Only 7% of those aged 18-60 and 40% of those over 60 have received a booster dose so far.
Dr Sandeep Nagar, Head of Respiratory Department at BLK Hospital said, “Definitely the number of COVID cases have increased; Fortunately the symptoms are few. Hardly a confession but it is spreading fast. There could be two reasons for this – first, most of us have just been vaccinated and the virus is mild.”
In terms of active cases, Kerala has the highest number of 26,451, followed by Tamil Nadu (18,282), Maharashtra (16,922), Karnataka (6,603), Delhi (1,966) and Haryana (1601).
Concerned about low offtake, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has directed states and union territories to increase the rollout of Sputnik V precautionary doses.
The Union Health Ministry has received several queries regarding the Sputnik V booster. It was reported that only 0.5% of those who took the precautionary dose of the jab were to take it.
The rising COVID numbers have increased the daily positivity rate to 5.10% and the weekly positivity rate to 4.37%.
In the last 24 hours, more than 16,482 patients have been cured of Kovid-19.
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