Festivities must follow Covid-appropriate behaviour, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said.
Parts of India are still in the midst of the second Covid wave that began earlier this year, the Union Health Ministry said today. It warned of a possible spike in the weeks ahead as a result of the approaching festive season.
"The second surge has not yet concluded. It is not over and, therefore, we have to maintain all necessary precautions, particularly in light of our experience that after every festival we see a spike," Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said today at a press briefing in New Delhi.
"The coming months of September and October are crucial for us because we would be celebrating a few festivals. Thus, festivals have to be celebrated with Covid-appropriate behaviour."
Mr Bhushan's comments came a day after Kerala reported a huge surge of over 30,000 new cases, which was dubbed "Onam Spike" by the state government. The state celebrated its annual harvest festival last Saturday.
Over 46,000 new cases were reported in the country in the past 24 hours. Of these, 58 per cent were reported from Kerala while the rest of the states were still showing a declining trend, Mr Bhushan.
He is scheduled to hold a virtual meet today with the respective secretaries of Kerala and Maharashtra to take stock of the situation, ANI reported.
"Kerala is tracing less than two contacts for each covid-positive person. There needs to be better monitoring of home-isolation patients because they may be walking around the neighbourhood spreading the infection," he said.
Referring to the Covid vaccination drive, he said 80 lakh doses were administered in the past 24 hours. "As we speak, more than 47 lakh doses have been administered so far today," he said.
Earlier the ministry informed that over 58.76 crore vaccine doses had been provided to states and Union Territories so far, through all sources since the drive began on January 16, according to a PTI report. A further 1,03,39,970 doses will be supplied soon, it said.
The weekly positivity had held steady at less than 2 per cent for eight consecutive weeks, although 41 districts still surpassed the 10 per cent mark for the week ending August 25, according to the Centre's data.