2nd wave still on, warns AIIMS chief

A woman receives a dose of Covid-19 vaccine during a door-to-door vaccination drive, in Chennai, on Wednesday. Pic/PTI

The Covid-19 pandemic is not over yet, and hence people should not lower their guard, AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria said on Wednesday. He said the second Covid-19 surge still continues, with the country reporting many thousands of cases per day.

Since the past few days, the daily number of cases has dropped significantly, but has hovered somewhere around 20,000. On Wednesday morning, the Union health ministry confirmed 18,833 fresh cases and 278 deaths. On Tuesday, India had logged 18,346 new cases.

"If we look at global scenario, increasing cases are being reported in many parts of the world," Guleria said, noting that the pandemic will eventually turn endemic in due course of time. "Majority of people with immunity will have normal symptoms like cold, cough, fever, and flu-like symptoms. But elderly people with low immunity may get severe illness in the form of pneumonia requiring hospital admission," he said.

However, Dr Guleria warned that, at present, it is premature to say the pandemic has become endemic and we still need to be extremely cautious as we don't know how will the virus behave in coming times.

‘Vaccine hesitancy among only 7%'

Only 7 per cent adults in India are currently hesitant to get inoculated against Covid-19, the lowest vaccine hesitancy level in the country so far, states a new survey by LocalCircles. It got 12,810 responses from citizens across 301 districts. It suggest that overall 46 per cent of the unvaccinated citizens plan to take their first dose soon, said LocalCircles founder Sachin Taparia. "If the entire adult population [94 crore] of India is taken into consideration, the survey shows that only 7 per cent of them are currently hesitant." Safety concerns, quick clinical trials, rushed vaccine nods, side-effects were among apprehensions expressed by some citizens.

3,38,71,881
Total no. of Coronavirus cases in india so far

4,49,538
Total no. of deaths due to the virus in India so far

2,46,687
Total no. of active cases in India

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