New Delhi: Looking at the daily coronavirus cases in the country, AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria on Friday said the second wave is not yet over and the severity of the COVID third wave depends on how people serious follow COVID-appropriate behaviour. The statement from the AIIMS chief comes as the daily Covid infections in India approaches 40,000.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Dr Randeep Guleria said that the potential of a third wave in India is dependent on how well people adhere to Covid-appropriate behaviour.
“I would suggest that people should understand that the second wave of the pandemic is not over yet. Daily, we are getting more than 40,000 cases. It is important for everyone to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour. If we follow this, then another wave will not come,” Dr Guleria said.
It must be noted that India during the second wave of the pandemic witnessed record deaths and people scrambling for healthcare facilities and medical oxygen.
However, the number of cases dropped in the following weeks and has been hovering around 40,000 for the last month, prompting the Centre to announce that the pandemic’s second wave is still ongoing.
On Friday, India saw a single-day rise of 40,120 coronavirus infections, taking the tally of cases to 3,21,17,826, while the recovery rate rose to 97.46 per cent, the highest recorded so far.
As per updates from Union Health Ministry, the death toll climbed to 4,30,254 with 585 new fatalities.
The ministry said the number of active cases has declined to 3,85,227 or 1.20 per cent of the total cases, the lowest percentage since March 2020.
A decline of 2,760 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours, the data showed. The recovery rate has risen to 97.46 per cent, the country’s highest since the start of the pandemic, the ministry said.
Also, 19,70,495 tests were conducted Thursday, taking the cumulative tests carried out so far for the detection of COVID-19 in the country to 48,94,70,779. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.04 per cent. It has been below 3 per cent for the last 19 days. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.13 per cent, according to the health ministry.
A total of 4,30,254 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,34, 572 from Maharashtra, 36,911 from Karnataka, 34,428 from Tamil Nadu, 25,068 from Delhi, 22,780 from Uttar Pradesh, 18,280 from Kerala and 18,268 from West Bengal.