Corona alert in 13 states: Center instructed to increase testing; 66 students who have taken both doses of the vaccine in a college in Karnataka are positive

Because of the fear of the third wave of Corona, the central government has come into alert mode. The Health Ministry has written a letter to 13 states on Thursday expressing concern over the declining number of corona testing.

At the same time, 66 students have been found corona positive in SDM Medical College, Dharwad, Karnataka. All are fully vaccinated. Along with the building of this college with 400 students, 2 hostels have also been sealed. The corona report of 300 students has arrived. 100 reports are yet to come.

Dharwad Deputy Commissioner Nitesh Patil said that about a week ago some students had attended a program. After doing the corona test of those students, all have been found positive. Their primary and secondary contacts are being traced.

Expressed concern over increasing positivity rate in Bengal

The Union Health Ministry has said in the letter that if there is a reduction in testing, then the infection will not be properly assessed. It has been said in the letter that within the last few days, the positivity rate is also increasing in many states including Bengal.

Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote in the letter that if the testing is not done properly, it will be difficult to predict the spread of infection among people. He wrote a letter to Swarup Nigam, Principal Secretary, Health Department of Bengal, saying that till June 2021, an average of 67,644 tests was being conducted. These have now been reduced to 38,600 tests per day till November 22.

Focus on RT-PCR instead of antigen test

Bhushan further wrote in the letter that at present the positivity rate in Bengal is 2.1%. This is the highest in the last 4 weeks. The positivity rate is increasing in many districts. These include Darjeeling, Dakshin Dinajpur, Howrah, West 24 Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Jalpaiguri, and Kolkata. He also wrote that instead of antigen test, more attention should be given to the RT-PCR test.

Letter written to these states also

Apart from Bengal, the Health Ministry has also written to Goa, Jammu, and Kashmir, Kerala, Ladakh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Sikkim. In a letter to Kerala, the ministry has said that the state was conducting 2.96 lakh corona tests in August, which has now been reduced to 56 thousand.

Maharashtra Health Minister claims - The third wave will come in December

The third wave of the corona epidemic in Maharashtra may come in December. State Health Minister Rajesh Tope said this on Wednesday. He said that the third wave will come in the state, but it will not be like the second wave.

He said that there is more vaccination in the state, so the third wave will be mild. Medical oxygen and ICU beds will not be needed during the third wave. At the same time, experts also claim that the waves come in their fixed frequency from time to time. The first wave came in September 2020. The second wave came in April 2021. Now the third wave is expected to arrive in December.

Preparations to open schools in Maharashtra

The Maharashtra government has started preparations to open the school the next day after the Health Minister warned of the third wave. On Thursday, State Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad said that the Chief Minister has decided to open the school after discussing it in the cabinet meeting. The minister said that schools from class 1 to class 4 in rural areas and from class 1 to class 7 in urban areas will be opened from December 1.