Health Secretary says second COVID wave not over, cautions against complacency in festive season

While cautioning people against the upcoming festive season, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Thursday that despite the decrease in daily Covid-19 cases, people should not let their guards down as the second wave of the pandemic is yet to end.

"People should be following all the Covid appropriate guidelines from maintaining social and physical distance to wearing mask," Bhushan said while addressing a press conference on Covid-19.

"Thirty-eight districts across country have recorded over 100 daily Covid cases till August 2021. Similar figures were reported from 58 and 108 districts in the months of July and June this year, respectively," he added.

He also cautioned the masses against the upcoming festive season starting Friday with the Ganesh Chaturthi and urged them to avoid mass gatherings and celebrate the occasions at a low-key level.

"We all know the kind of impact it can have on daily Coronavirus cases. People should avoid markets and social gatherings and follow all the Covid-19 guidelines seriously," he said.

The Health Secretary urged people to get themselves vaccinated as fast as possible.

"About 20 lakh doses were administered per day in May 2021, which increased to 78 lakh by September 7. The states and the Centre are working actively on the inoculation process, it is now the duty of the citizens to get vaccinated," he said.

Over 71.65 crore vaccine doses were administered across the country till Wednesday.

Speaking on the daily Covid cases, he informed that nearly 68 per cent of the total Covid cases in the last seven days were reported from Kerala.

Of the 43,263 Covid cases reported from across India in the last 24 hours, Kerala alone accounted for 32,000 cases. Maharashtra with five-time less daily cases than its southern counterpart is the second worst-hit state in the country at present.