As the third wave has already set in in many countries, it is very important for India not to lower its guard, said VK Paul, Niti Aayog, Member-Health, on Tuesday, at a press conference here. Paul said there is already a surge in cases to 9,00,000 from 3,90,000 cases, so the wave has already set in by 40 per cent globally.
“Carefulness, not lowering the guard, and Covid-appropriate behaviour are important as emphasised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to beat the third wave. Vaccinationand social distancing are critical weapons against the pandemic. Also, establishing containment zones and avoidance of crowding at tourist places are essential,” said Paul.
Meanwhile, Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry, said that a surge has already been witnessed in countries such as the UK, Indonesia, Russia and Bangladesh, and India needs to be more vigilant in its efforts to prevent the third wave.
He informed that in some States such as Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura, an uptick in cases has been noticed, while in some States cases have plateaued instead of declining.
The Health Ministry has also deputed its central teams to 11 States such as Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Chhattisgarh and Tripura to monitor the evolving Covid 19 situation there, said Agarwal.
Vaccination strategy
Meanwhile, Agarwal also said that PM Modi, in his interaction with the north-eastern States, highlighted the need to make the community aware of Covid-appropriate behaviour and vaccination strategy to fight Covid.
Besides this, India is continuing with its downward spiral in daily Covid cases and, for the fourth straight day, infections further plunged to 31,443, the lowest in the last 118 days, as per the Health Ministry data. The daily Covid deaths stood at 2,020, with Madhya Pradesh adding 1,478 casualties till June 30. It is to be noted that 49,007 patients recovered during the last 24 hours and the recovery rate has further improved to 97.28 per cent.