Celebrate virtually, be alert till December: Health ministry issues Covid warning ahead of festival

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Oct 07, 2021: Ahead of the festival season, the health ministry issued a warning asking people to be cautious from October to December and celebrate festivals in a way that we do not spread Covid-19.

 

Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said, "Attend Durga Pooja and Ram Leela virtually. Meet your loved ones online on Diwali." Today is the first day of the nine-day Navratri festival, marking the beginning of the festival season for Hindus across India.

To avoid getting infected with coronavirus, he said, "Masks will remain very important. Vaccination is a shield. Festival and wedding seasons convey victory of good over evil."

"Lakshadweep, Chandigarh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar and Sikkim have vaccinated 100% of its population with the first dose of vaccine," he added.
The health ministry further said that so far India has managed infection well and is now looking at a plateau of Covid-19 cases.

"The challenge of Covid has not ended yet. To some extent, we say that we haven’t controlled the second wave of Covid. We need to make continuous efforts," Lav Agarwal said.

He further added that India has so far reported 3.39 crore Covid-19 cases till date. Of these, 2.44 lakh cases are active as of now.
He said, " The overall positivity rate of the country was nearly at 1.68% last week as compared to that of 5.86% earlier."

Lav Agarwal said that even though there was a decline in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country, Kerala was contributing the most to those cases. "There are 5 states - Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram and Karnataka which have over 10,000 active Covid cases. More than 50% of the total coronavirus cases in the country are from Kerala, 15.6% Maharashtra, 6.81% Tamil Nadu and 6.58% Mizoram."

He said, "There are 28 districts, including a few in Arunachal Pradesh & Assam which have a case positivity rate between 5% & 10%, that is, high infection rate. There are 34 districts which are reporting a weekly positivity rate of over 10%:"

Talking about the preparation for the third wave of Covid-19, Niti Aayog’s Dr VK Paul said, "PM Modi has launched oxygen PSA plants in Rishikesh today. A total of 1,200 PSA plants are functional in India and a full network of 4,000 PSA plants will be established across India soon."

"8.36 lakh hospital beds and 9.69 lakh isolation beds are available across states in India. Of these, 4.86 lakh beds are oxygen beds. India currently has 1.35 lakh ICU beds," he added.

Dr VK Paul said that the government is also preparing for a surge of 4.5 lakh to 5 lakh cases in a day. "Preparations are also on for rolling out Zydus vaccine," he said.

Courtesy:India Today