Second Wave Not Over Yet, Follow Covid-Appropriate Behaviour During Festivals: Health Ministry

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the second surge of Covid-19 has not yet concluded and called for maintaining all necessary precautions.

People flout Covid norms at a market in Delhi. (File Photo/ Getty)

New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry on Thursday said the second wave of coronavirus is not yet over in India and added that Covid-appropriate behaviour has to be followed during the festivals.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the second surge of Covid-19 has not yet concluded and called for maintaining all necessary precautions.

READ: India's COVID Cases On The Rise Again In Last 5 Days Amid Third Wave Concern | Know Details

“We are still in the midst of the second surge of Covid-19 in our country. The second surge has not yet concluded. It is not over and therefore, we have to maintain all necessary precautions, particularly in light of our experience that after every festival we see a spike,” said Bhushan.

“The coming months of September and October are crucial for us because we would be celebrating a few festivals. Thus festivals have to be celebrated with Covid-appropriate behaviour,” he added.

Asserting that Covid-19 protocols will have to be adhered to even after complete vaccination, Bhushan said: “Vaccines reduce the disease severity and help in avoiding hospitalisation. But still, the usage of masks and Covid protocols must continue even after vaccination.”

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Balram Bhargava said the vaccines are disease modifying and not disease preventing, adding it is so very important to continue the use of masks even after vaccination.

“The second wave is still on in India and an upsurge is observed in few districts. We have about 41 districts that have a weekly test positivity rate of more than 10%. Wherever Covid Appropriate Behaviour is not being observed, an upsurge in cases can be seen,” he said.

The Union Health Ministry also informed that Kerala is contributing to more than 51 percent of the Cvid-19 cases in India today.

“Kerala has more than 1 lakh active cases. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have 10,000 to 1 lakh active cases. Kerala contributes to 51%, Maharashtra 16% and rest of the three states contributes to 4-5% of the cases in the country,” said Bhushan.

The Health Secretary said 46,000 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the country in the last 24 hours.

“58% of these cases were reported from Kerala. Rest of the states are still showing a declining trend,” he added.

The Health Secretary further said that 279 districts had reported more than 100 cases in the first week of June and added that the number came down to 107 in the opening week of July.

The Union Health Ministry also informed that 46.69 crore first doses of vaccine have so far been administered in the country, while 13.70 crore people have been vaccinated completely.

“There is a progressive decrease in districts reporting high cases. Districts with greater than 100 cases declined from 279 in the week ending 1st June, 2021, to 41 as of today Cumulative Recovery Rate is increasing (and) more than 97% currently,” said Bhushan.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry in a release said India reported 46,164 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours and 34,159 people recovered from the disease during the same time.

The Health Ministry said the recovery rate is currently at 97.63 percent. The daily positivity rate stands at 2.58 percent, which is less than 3% for last 31 days.