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When will 2nd wave of Covid in India be over? Govt's top adviser explains in 4 points
India's daily Covid-19 caseload has been around 45,000 for the past few days. The number is not at all small, the health ministry said. It appears small because of the peak the country experienced in past, VK Paul said.
When daily Covid-19 cases fall to 10,000 in India and the figure is maintained for at least three weeks, the 2nd wave of the pandemic can be presumed to be over, Niti Aayog member (health) Dr VK Paul said on Friday, adding that the current decline in the daily number of cases is not an indication that the second wave is over.
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue of recent crowding at several tourist places in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the health ministry repeated its warning that such careless behaviour is a direct invitation to Coronavirus. The transmission of the virus can still be arrested if these travellers quarantine themselves after returning from the hills.
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The 2nd wave of the pandemic is not over, Dr Paul said explaining 4 points that establish that the wave is still on.
> Rate of decline in the number of cases has become slow, which shows that the situation is not to be taken lightly, Dr Paul said.
> Second wave is still visible in some districts of particular two states -- Maharashtra and Kerala, and the northeastern states. "This shows that the country is not yet in the safe zone. This has happened earlier too that cases are localised at one point of time and then they suddenly explode," the adviser said.
> Daily case of ranging between 35,000 and 37,000 is not a small number, Dr Paul said, adding that this number looks small because of the peak the country experienced. The present daily number is still one-third of the peak of the first wave.
> The daily number is far from the baseline. "Baseline would be 10,000 cases and when it is maintained for at least three weeks, then we can say that we have brought the situation under control," he said.
