The government worked round the clock to stop COVID-19 last year and was successful in decreasing the active caseload to the minimum. However, with the arrival of vaccines early this year and things returning back to normality, people gradually invited laxity in their adherence to the simple code of pandemic-appropriate behaviour. While the virus mutated and evolved itself, people let their guard down. All this compounded in the spike in cases snowballing into the second wave, Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan said on Friday.
Distributing masks to all employees of the Health Ministry, he noted that that now many parts of the country were gradually moving towards unlock from the second wave, but “we cannot afford the laxity and any further increase in cases again”.
‘Mask most potent weapon’
Masks were the simplest, most potent and the most powerful weapon against all variants of the Coronavirus, he pointed out. He appealed to everyone, an employer in some capacity (including corporate and industry leaders), social organisations, his colleagues in other ministries and political leaders in office to ensure that all their employees were safe from COVID-19. “We should ensure that all of them have adequate masks, that they are properly worn, and inform them, if necessary, about the importance of COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. We should encourage them to get vaccinated as well,” he stated.
India, he said, had started the largest vaccination drive in the world and was now completely geared to universalise the drive, throwing it open free of cost to every adult citizen above 18 years of age. He appealed to every Indian to get vaccinated and join the ‘jan andolan’ against the pandemic.
