As many as 96 samples of coronavirus patients have been sent to National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi and 4 samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune to identify the strain of COVID-19, amid the recent surge in the number of coronavirus cases in Indore, an official said on Monday.
Dr Amit Malakar, COVID Nodal Officer, Indore speaking to said that "casual and careless" behaviour of people have contributed to the recent increase in COVID cases in the city.
"I have seen that people are not wearing masks and not using stiser. The target of testing the coronavirus samples have been reduced after a January 3 order of the Madhya Pradesh government asking to reduce the number of casual and temporary staff in the health department," he said.
"The death rate is still less than 1.6 per cent. In Indore, we have reported 7 deaths in the month of February. We have sent 96 positive samples from Indore to NCDC, Delhi and four samples to NIV Pune to identify the strain, whether they are the old strain of COVID-19 or a new strain of COVID-19," he added.
The official said that the samples which have been sent are COVID-19 positive samples of last week.
"The samples which have been sent include- mild symptoms, moderate symptoms and higher symptoms of COVID-19," he added.
Dr Malakar said that the second dose of COVID-19 vaccination is being administered to those health care and frontline workers who have taken the first dose of the vaccine. Around 35,000 health care and frontline workers have taken the first jab, he said.
On being asked, if there will be a lockdown in Indore due to COVID-19, he said, "Such a decision will be taken at the state level and if the public becomes aware then there will be no need to take such action."
After registering a drop in COVID-19 cases for some weeks, Indore is witnessing a spike in cases. With 104 new cases on Sunday, Indore's caseload went up to 58,860 including 57,269 recovered, 931 deaths and 660 active cases.
Indore was one of India's COVID-19 hotspots, contributing nearly 50 per cent of all cases reported in Madhya Pradesh in May last year.
( With inputs from ANI )
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