With the second wave ebbing, COVID-related lockdown norms have been relaxed in most states in the country. This has led to crowding in public places, once again raising the fear of massive community spread and super spreader events.
The Centre on Saturday, 19 June, urged states to ensure the “extremely important” strategy of COVID-appropriate behaviour – test-track-treat and vaccination – to prevent the spread of the disease.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla insisted that vaccination against COVID is critical to breaking the chain of transmission and so all state and Union Territory governments should step up the pace of vaccination, to cover maximum number of people in an expeditious manner, he said.
He emphasised on the fact that while there is a decline in the number of active cases, the state governments need to assess the situation at the ground level and then take decisions to impose or ease restrictions.
To reiterate, COVID appropriate behaviour includes mandatory use of masks, hand hygiene, social distancing and also proper ventilation of closed spaces, he said.
“As the situation is dynamic, a close watch needs to be kept on early signs of a surge in active cases or high positivity rates. As system should be in place at the micro-level to ensure that whenever cases rise in a smaller place, it gets checked there itself through containment measures as per the existing guidelines issued by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare,” the note read.
(With inputs from PTI)
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