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“Normal activities were supposed to resume but with discipline. People don’t respect Covid appropriate behaviour now,” Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan was quoted by NDTV. The statement unleashed major discussion as state elections are still underway in West Bengal, and Assam, and have just concluded in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry on April 6.
Election rallies by senior politicians, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are the norm and are attended by thousands, and social distancing on the ground is non existent, and wearing masks seems more like an option rather than the norm.
The Centre has announced that Covid-19 vaccination can be administered from April 11, at public, private workplaces that have about “100 eligible beneficiaries.”
India’s daily rise in new cases crossed the 1,15,736 mark in the last 24 hours. According to the Press Information Bureau, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala continue to record around 80.70% of the new cases reported in the country. Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 55,469, followed by Chhattisgarh with 9,921 and Karnataka with 6,150 new cases. The national Active Caseload has reached 8,43,473 now. However, it is heartening to note that the national Recovery Rate is 92.11%, with 59,856 recoveries were registered in the last 24 hours, and 630 deaths were also reported in the same time period. According to official data, 84.44% of the new deaths have been reported. These are reported from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Gujarat.
No Vaccine Shortage in the Country: Health Minister
Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare has said that the major reason for the surge in cases across the country, was because people have not been following COVID Appropriate Behaviour. He said, “It seems that people have given ‘Tilanjali’ to measures and steps that can protect them from COVID such as mask wearing, avoiding gatherings and maintaining physical distancing, which I have been calling as Social Vaccine and are as important as the Vaccines that we now have.” He added that the measures to prevent and contain Covid-19 “are not rocket science! We have successfully adopted these measures all of last year and shown the world about our success story.”
The same measures have to be reinforced and implemented with more rigour and commitment by the states and the people, he said and added that the Centre will continually replenish the vaccine stock and that “there is no vaccine shortage in any part of the country.” His statement comes in the wake of the authorities saying the aim was to “always to vaccinate those who need it, not all those who want it.”
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting that vaccination should be open to everyone above the age of 18. The medical association had stated, “At present, we are vaccinating the population above 45 years. In view of the rapid spread of the second wave of the disease, we suggest that our vaccination strategy needs to be geared up with immediate effect on war footing. We request the following suggestions in the Covid-19 vaccination drive. All citizens above 18 years of age should be permitted to receive Covid-19 vaccination.”
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