Covid-19 Wrap-up: Flouting of norms sets off alarm bells

The Centre has expressed concern over increasing cases of Covid-inappropriate behaviour amid ease in curbs

Amid a positive picture of India witnessing a steady decline in daily new coronavirus cases, incidents of people flouting Covid-19 norms have set off alarm bells for the government. The Centre has expressed concern over increasing cases of Covid-19-inappropriate behaviour amid ease in curbs, forcing it to issue stern warning.

Considering reports of people crowding tourist spots without maintaining social distancing, the Centre on Wednesday issued an advisory to the state governments, asking them to direct local authorities to act strictly on such cases of violation of Covid-19 norms. The Centre also directed state governments to reimpose Covid restrictions if the norms are flouted.

Meanwhile, the Modi government has again rubbished the reports that claimed discrepancy in official numbers of Covid deaths in the country and the actual figure. The Union Health Ministry denied the allegations and dismissed the reports as "speculations". "The report compares data from the Civil Registration System (CRS) and HMIS to draw erroneous inferences. Such reports are conjectures and speculation without any substantial basis," the ministry said.

In a major development, the Madhya Pradesh government has decided to reopen schools for classes 11 and 12 with 50 per cent occupancy from July 26. Considering a significant fall in the numbers of new Covid cases in the state, it said that other classes will also be reopened gradually.

While vaccination is being considered to be the most effective way to defeat the virus, the Centre's target of administering 51.6 crore doses by the end of July is unlikely to be fulfilled. In order to achieve the target, the government will have to administer 13 crore doses till the end of the month, which is highly difficult considering the current pace as only 38.5 crore shots have been given till July 13.

Although many states have witnessed a significant decline in new Covid cases, five states still remain a concern as they account for over 73 per cent of the new cases in the country. The five states are Kerala, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Odisha.

On the other side, the Uttarakhand government has decided to cancel the annual Kawad Yatra in view of the possible outbreak of the third Covid wave. “We do not wish to make Haridwar the centre of Covid-19 pandemic. Protecting people's lives is of paramount importance to us,” the new chief minister said.

Meanwhile, the WHO has warned against mixing two diferent Covid vaccines saying that there is not enough data on the impact this practice will have. Calling it a "dangerous trend", the international health organisation said that it will be a "chaotic" situation if citizens are allowed to decide when and who should take which vaccines and in what interval."

Recording futher dip in daily new cases, India reported 38,792 Covid cases in the last 24 hours, while the fatalities reached 4,11,408 with 624 new deaths. A decrease of 2,832 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

After mucormycosis, another new health complication has come up in post-Covid patients - the disease is called Avascular Necrosis (AVN), which causes the death of bone tissues. AVN occurs due to prolonged use of steroids, which is highly used in Covid patients to lower the inflammation in the body caused by the virus.

After Twitter, Facebook and Whatsapp, TikTok is now being reportedly used to spread misinformation on Covid vaccines. As per a report, a TikTok feature that allows users to add another person's audio to their videos is being used to promote misleading and harmful content about Covid-19 vaccines.