The pandemic situation has improved and even though there are states and districts of concern, overall there is a contraction in the spread of COVID-19, the government said on Thursday.

Addressing a press conference here, Joint Secretary in the Union Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said 34 states and union territories, including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat, are recording a decline in new cases and positivity on a week-on-week basis, while Kerala and Mizoram still remain two states of concern.

"The present data indicates that unlike evidence during earlier Covid surge, with the current variant surgery is safe and not associated with higher chances of complications or deaths in Covid positive patients. These patients who need surgery need not be denied it," officials said here.

The officials also noted that during the ongoing COVID-19 wave, the population with an average age of 44 years has been infected more as compared to previous waves when it was 55 years. "In this Covid wave, sore throat was seen more in patients. Also, there was significantly lesser use of drugs for treatment," officials said.

Officials of the ministry said at a press briefing while about 297 districts across the nation were reporting a Covid-19 positivity rate of over 10%, 169 districts have a positivity rate between 5 and 10%.

As many as 16 States and Union Territories have already achieved 100% first dose vaccination coverage, four States and UTs have achieved 96-99%, it added.

As per available data, the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, unlike its predecessors, was not causing many complications or deaths among patients undergoing surgeries, the ministry pointed out.