Second wave is not over yet! Virus behaviour can’t be taken for granted: Dr VK Paul

We are tired but the virus is not: Dr VK Paul (Photo: IE)

A total number of 22 districts across seven states in the country are witnessing daily rise in new COVID cases, reported the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday calling it a “cause of concern”. The seven of these districts are in Kerala and two in Maharashtra. Rest of the daily cases are rising across the districts in Northeast. Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Health, while addressing a presser, said that there are 22 districts in the country witnessing an increasing trend in coronavirus cases in the last four weeks. This sudden spike in the districts is a cause of concern and we have lined up discussions with the states for the same.

Districts witnessing spike in new covid cases

In Kerala, districts like Alappuzha, Kottayam, Malappuram, Wayanad, Thrissur, Ernakulam and Pathanamthitta are witnessing an upward trend in daily covid cases. And the two districts in Maharashtra are Solapur and Beed. In Manipur, Chandel, Imphal East, Churachandpur, Noney and Thoubal are also showing a similar trend, apart from South-West Khasi Hills, West Garo Hills and South-West Garo Hills in Meghalaya, three places–Papum Pare,West Siang and Lohit in Arunachal, Nalbari in Assam, and West Tripura in Tripura are showing the similar cause of the concern to the officials.

In Malappuram (Kerala), a weekly figure of 1,428 cases was reported during the period between June 28 and July 4. The figure has now touched 2,270 in the last week, showing an increase of around 59 per cent, said Agarwal. In Kottayam as well, the number of weekly cases has increased to 849 by 63 per cent in the last week from 519 weekly cases a month ago. We are in constant touch with states on how we can bring the number of covid cases down with the help of early detection and containment, he added.

We are tired but the virus is not: Dr VK Paul

Even as the number of active COVID-19 cases were down to below 4 lakh from 37 lakh at the peak, the cases have now spread across a limited geography. The rise in covid cases has made it mandatory to change our approach towards containment, restrictions and strict follow-up on Covid appropriate behavior, said the Health Secretary. He also added that the Health Ministry and Home Ministry had issued guidelines, specifying the restrictions that need to be placed wherever the cases are high. Dr VK Paul, Member, NITI Aayog was also present at the press conference. He said it wouldn’t be right to say that the second wave of COVID-19 is over. Things cannot be taken for granted as the virus is not tired yet. Virus behavior cannot be taken for granted by anyone, he concluded.