India reports 41,157 new COVID-19 cases

With India reporting daily cases within the range of 30,000 to 40,000 for the past few days, the steady decline in the cases that the country had managed after the

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With India reporting daily cases within the range of 30,000 to 40,000 for the past few days, the steady decline in the cases that the country had managed after the second wave has slowed down. On Sunday, the Union Health Ministry bulletin said that over 41,000 cases were reported across the country in the past 24 hours.

This is worrisome keeping in mind the very real threat of a third wave, especially as countries all over the world are now witnessing an increase in cases as well. NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul has accordingly said that the next 100 to 125 days, that is the next three to four months are very critical, as India’s population is still vulnerable. The active cases in India, though declining due to recoveries being more than new cases, is still over 4.22 lakh.

Though India has a recovery rate of over 97%, the fact that a large number of people have been heading to various hill stations for tourism and have been flouting COVID-19 prevention protocol continues to be a cause for concern, because such behaviour has the capability of ushering in the third wave. Centre as well as experts are worried over this, and have issued repeated warnings to people to avoid crowding and to follow norms like wearing masks in public and maintaining social distance.

In such a situation, vaccination is seeming to be the only ray of hope as the inoculation drive is continuing steadily after having been relaunched last month. So far, nearly 40.5 crore vaccine doses have been administered across the country, including first and second doses.

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