Surge in COVID-19 cases in Delhi, Maharashtra as people not following protocols properly: AIIMS professor
Apr 03, 2021
New Delhi [India], April 3 : As people in states like Delhi and Maharashtra are not following COVID-19 protocols properly, an increase in cases can be seen, said Sanjeev Sinha, Professor at the Department of Medicine in New Delhi's AIIMS.
Speaking to ANI on Saturday, the professor said: "People in states like Delhi and Maharashtra are not following COVID-19 protocols properly, due to which surge in the cases can be seen there."
He lauded the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan for COVID-19 vaccination in the country.
"The government is conducting the largest vaccination program in the country. For this Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Health Minister made efforts to bring this make in India vaccine. Whoever is eligible for the vaccine should take it immediately," the professor urged.
He also said that from April 1 government has given the vaccine to people aged over 45 years. People have to come forward to take the vaccine.
The third phase of coronavirus vaccination for all above 45 years began on April 1. The Centre has warned that the situation is going from "bad to worse" and urged states to achieve 100 per cent vaccination coverage of those above the age of 45 years in surge districts within the next two weeks.
India had begun its second phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive to inoculate people above 60 years and those over 45 with comorbidities against the coronavirus from March 1.
India had started COVID-19 vaccination drive on January 16 with two vaccines -- Covishield (Oxford-AstraZeneca's vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India) and Covaxin (manufactured by Bharat Biotech Limited).
Meanwhile, the fresh COVID-19 cases declined slightly in the national capital with 3,567 new cases, 2,904 recoveries and 10 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, said the government today.
With this, the total cases escalated to 672,381 including 12,647 active cases and 6,48,674 total recoveries. The death toll, however, surged to 11,060 including the new deaths.
The cumulative positivity rate is 4.48 per cent and the total samples tested in the last 24 hours are 79,617.
The country has been witnessing a second wave of COVID-19 with close to 90,000 cases getting reported in the last 24 hours.