India Coronavirus Dispatch: Kerala now has the third highest active cases

From rising caseloads in four districts of Vidarbha to Pune setting up post-Covid counselling centres, here's a roundup of news on how the country is dealing with the pandemic

Pune’s post-Covid counselling centres: Pune is set to open post-Covid-19 centres to counsel patients who have recovered from the disease. Around 10-12 per cent of the 230,000 patients discharged so far have been experiencing psychological problems or are in need of physiotherapy. Some are suffering from fibrosis, neuro-muscular problems or other side effects of medicines. The district has been reporting more recoveries than cases for the past few days. District authorities also say they will be constituting a team of doctors to counsel patients who have recuperated. The centres are expected to be set up in the next two-three days at jumbo facilities in the city, as well as in other facilities like the Naidu hospital and the Baner mini-jumbo Covid-19 centre. Read more here.

Vidharba's districts see case hike: Four districts in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region--Bhandara, Chandrapur, Gondia and Gadchiroli--have shown a maximum spike in Covid-19 cases over the last month with a 400 to 600 per cent jump in active infections. From August 27 to September 27, the number of active infections in Bhandara saw a 663 per cent increase. Chandrapur, meanwhile, reported a 570 per cent jump in Covid-19 cases from 739 to 4,958. In the period under review, the four districts also saw the number of deaths from Covid-19 shoot up. Proximity to Nagpur and movement from the neighbouring district is among the chief reasons for the rise in cases. The four districts were in the green zone from March till June. Among districts, Vidarbha is recording the highest spike in terms of percentage rise in cases, however, in terms of  absolute numbers, Pune, Mumbai, Thane, Nashik and Nagpur continue to record the maximum new cases. Read more here.

Third Delhi sero-survey: Delhi’s third coronavirus seroprevalence study, conducted last month, found Covid-19 antibodies in 25 per cent of the participants. This is actually lower than that found in August at 28.36 per cent. This drop, experts say, could be a result of survey limitations or due to disappearance of the antibodies after a certain time period. The survey took place between September 1 and 15 and a total of 17,409 samples were tested. This was an increase from the August and July sero-surveys which tested 15,046 and 22,853 samples, respectively. Participants from each district were selected on the basis of seroprevalence detected in the last survey. This survey found the highest prevalence of antibodies in Delhi’s Northwest district, at 31.8 per cent, while the lowest was seen in Northeast at 12.2 per cent. Read more here.

In Numbers

Kerala has third-highest active cases: With a steady surge in Covid-19 cases, Kerala now stands third in the country in terms of number of active cases. On Wednesday, with a record 8,830 cases reported, the number of active cases in the state went up to 67,061. Maharashtra and Karnataka are the only states in the country with a higher number of active cases. Kerala’s proportion of active cases is 33 per cent, while the national figure is is 15.42 per cent. The average positivity rate over the past week, meanwhile, has hovered at around 12 per cent for the last one week. Despite seeing a high positivity rate for quite some time, the state has not registered a corresponding consistent hike in its testing numbers. On Wednesday, however, the state tested an all-time daily record of 63,682 samples. Read more here.

Understanding Covid-19

New mutation: The coronavirus has been constantly mutating. One particular mutation, however, has garnered a lot of attention. Till now 12,000 mutations of the virus have been documented in, while one of them has been found the most widespread. People infected with this particular mutation of the virus — known as D614G — have been observed to have a significantly higher viral load. The strain has also grown because of the ease with which it can enter the human body. The strain is also more transmissible and results in symptoms of higher severity. Cases of D614G infection have also been noticed in India. At least one trial of a Covid vaccine candidate has shown efficacy against this particular mutation. Read more here.