Dismissing allegations that the government was unaware of the intensity of the second wave, NITI Aayog member (health) Dr V K Paul said, “We kept warning again and again from this platform that the second wave of COVID-19 will come.
He added, “No modelling can predict the size of peak…So peak will come, the virus can again emerge, we know.” The virus has not gone anywhere and other countries were also witnessing a resurge. He said, it is the nature of the disease that it will ultimately go to villages.
At a press conference, Paul said, “The prime minister had conveyed the country about the emerging second wave on March 17 without creating panic and had said that we have to fight it.”
So peak will come, the virus can again emerge, we know. So preparations have to be made at the country level in collaboration with states, infrastructure has to be ramped up, containment measures have to be implemented and COVID appropriate behaviour has to be followed.
This epidemiology is well known, Paul said as he urged people to follow COVID appropriate behaviour and embrace vaccination. Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said that plateauing in daily new COVID-19 cases and a slight decline positivity rate have been recorded in the country over the past three days, but added 10 states still have a positivity rate of more than 25 per cent which was “worrisome trend”.
He said as many as 12 states have more than 1 lakh active COVID-19 cases, while 24 states have more than 15 per cent case positivity rate.
Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Punjab, Assam, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry, and Manipur were among 16 states and union territories showing a continued increasing trend in daily new COVID-19 cases and remain an area of concern.
There 316 districts showing an increasing trend in COVID-19 cases since the last two weeks while 187 districts have relatively shown a decline in COVID-19 cases during the same period, he said. India has been reeling under a catastrophic second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
