India reported 15,940 fresh coronavirus cases and 20 fatalities in the last 24 hours, according to Union Health Ministry data. The active caseload is at 91,779
and the daily positivity rate is 4.39 percent.
As states register a spike in Covid-19 cases, the rise and fall in cases from time to time is a common phenomenon when an infectious disease transitions from pandemic to endemic phase, experts said on Friday. Underlining the current rise in coronavirus cases is so far limited to certain districts of the country, they said not wearing masks, increased travel and social interactions and low uptake of booster doses of Covid vaccine could possibly be behind the increase.
According to official sources, 51 districts in India, including 12 from Kerala, seven from Mizoram and five each from Maharashtra and Assam, are reporting a weekly Covid positivity rate of over 10 per cent. In 53 districts, including 10 from Rajasthan and five from Delhi, the weekly positivity is between five and 10 per cent.
Masks to be back in Mumbai?
A day after breaching the 5,000-mark, Maharashtra reported 4,205 new Covid-19 cases and three fresh fatalities linked to the infection on Friday. Amid weekly rise in coronavirus cases in the state, CM Uddhav Thackeray on Friday discussed the situation with senior government officials and explored the possibility of making face masks mandatory again in Mumbai suburban trains in view of the rising cases.
The chief minister, at a virtual meeting with senior bureaucrats, also discussed the possibility of making face masks mandatory for suburban train commuters, the statement said. The mask mandate option was discussed as a measure to curb growing cases of the novel coronavirus infection in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), it said.
Maharashtra withdrew its mandatory mask rule in early April and made it optional in view of a sharp drop in daily cases.”Coronavirus cases are on the rise in the state, chiefly in Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Raigad and Palghar districts. People should follow Covid-19-appropriate behaviour on their own,” the CM was quoted as saying in the statement.
NCC cadets test positive in Andhra Pradesh camp
Seven NCC cadets of a camp organised at Sarvepalli Radhakrishna Municipal High School in Kakinada, have tested positive for Covid-19. The camp being organised by the 9th Andhra Air Squadron from June 18 had to shut down three days before its schedule on the directions of district collector Krithika Shukla, a New Indian Express report said.
After some students experienced symptoms such as fever on Wednesday, health officials from a nearby health centre conducted RT-PCR tests on 40 cadets. Of them, seven tested Covid-19 positive.
Companies rethink back-to-office plans
Companies that had planned to call back employees to offices in a phases are now being cautious amid rise in cases. Mumbai-based RPG Group told LiveMint that it has alerted its insurance team to extend support in case of hospitalization and is monitoring the status of its covid-affected employees on digital tracking dashboards. The company will continue its hybrid model of work.
Electronics firm Panasonic India is conducting booster drive for its employees. “We have also installed Coronaguard filters (a kind of air purifying filter) as an added safety measure in our office premises,” company’s CHRO Adarsh Mishra Mishra was quoted by LiveMint as saying.
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