Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Thursday said that the second wave of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) has not subsided yet and asked the people to follow Covid-19 preventive measures to protect themselves.
Bhushan said that the upcoming months, due to the festive season, remain crucial for the nation. He said that events which can lead to crowds should be strictly avoided. “We are still in the surge of the second wave of Covid-19 in our country. The second surge has not concluded. It is not over. We have to maintain all necessary precautions,” Bhushan said.
84-day gap between Covid vaccine doses for better efficacy: Centre to Kerala HC
{{/usCountry}}84-day gap between Covid vaccine doses for better efficacy: Centre to Kerala HC
{{/usCountry}}“Based on our experience, we have seen a spike after every festival. The coming months of September and October are crucial because we will be celebrating a few festivals. Festivals have to be celebrated following Covid-19 appropriated behaviour,” he further added.
ICMR director-general Professor Balram Bhargava pointed out that the weekly test positivity rate remains above 10% in at least 41 districts. He also said that the nation is in the midst of the second wave and there are 27% such districts where the weekly test positivity rate remains between 5-10%.
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Bhargava also said that the Covid-19 vaccines are ‘disease-modifying vaccines’ and not ‘disease-preventing vaccines’ and stressed upon continuing using masks to prevent further spread of Covid-19 even after being vaccinated.
“Vaccines reduce disease severity and the chances of hospitalisation. They also avert chances of death to the tune of 98-99%,” the ICMR director general said.
Meanwhile, Bhushan said that the cumulative recovery rate is higher than 97% as he outlined that there are 31 states with less than 10,000 active cases, four states with 10,000 to 1 lakh active cases and only one state, Kerala, with more than 1 lakh active cases. Kerala also contributed to 51.19% of the total number of active cases in the country.
Availability of oxygen ahead of third wave
During the briefing the health ministry officials also said that adequate measures are being taken to ensure there is no shortage of oxygen. It said that oxygen buffers have been created both at district and hospital levels across states and Union territories. The government is making sure that public health facilities have their own captive plants.
“The government has sanctioned 1,500 such plants and 900 plants have been commissioned,” Bhushan said. He also said under the Covid Emergency Response Package announced by the Centre, public health facilities will have storage tanks and funds are being provided to hospitals to ensure setting up of such tanks at a cost of ₹23,123 crore.
“We will create equitable oxygen distribution storages within a state or municipal corporation area. Each one of these storages will have to be put under the charge of a senior officer and the contact details of these officers will be shared in the public domain in situations where there is an SOS so that hospitals can contact them,” he further added.