Covid-19 crisis | Second wave is not over, crowded tourist spots pose a new risk, says Health Ministry

The ministry added that more than half of Covid-19 cases reported in India last week are from two states -- Maharashtra and Kerala

Even after a ten-fold drop in daily new infections, India is not out of its Covid-19 worries as the daily count of new cases has not fallen since the past two weeks with half of them coming from only two states – Maharashtra and Kerala.

“We are nowhere close to the baseline, which should be below 10,000 new cases for each day for three consecutive weeks," VK Paul, NITI Aayog member, said on Friday.

Since the last week of June, the number of new cases has stagnated between 35,000 to 48,000, which is more than one-third of the first wave’s peak of 97,894.

While it looks small when compared against the second peak of 4,14,188 infections in a single day, in absolute terms the daily count is still high.

Read more: Vaccine Matters: Delta mars preparations for third wave

Last week, 53% of the cases came from Kerala (32%) and Maharashtra (21%). As many as 66 districts have more than a 10% test positivity rate, of which ten are in Rajasthan, eight in Kerala and two each in Maharashtra and Odisha. In addition, the numbers are on a rise in almost every northeast state.

"While the infection is more visible in two states and in the northeast, the war against Covid-19 is far from over. As long as the virus is there, we are not safe,” said Paul, appealing to the people to follow the Covid-19 appropriate behaviour while venturing out to tourist spots and getting engaged in religious programmes.

Also read: Maharashtra, Kerala reported 53% of India's total Covid-19 cases last week: Centre

On people thronging the hill stations without wearing a mask and giving the distancing norms a go-by, a senior health ministry official said such behaviour was tantamount to an open invitation to the virus to infect.

“The relaxations on restriction don’t mean the second wave is over. We are still dealing with it and the tourist spots pose a new risk,” said Lav Agarwal, a joint secretary in the ministry.

As photos and videos of such irresponsible behaviour at Mussoorie, Shimla and Manali surfaced on social media, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday told at the Council of Ministers meeting that it was not a pleasant sight and it should instil a sense of fear.

Paul said the local administration must take responsibility to enforce Covid-appropriate behaviour at the tourist spot. At the press conference, Agarwal showed the Kempty Falls video asking people not to follow such behaviour.

Following the criticism, the Uttarakhand government has now restricted tourist entry at Kempty Falls, limiting it to only 50 tourists at a time. The tourists can't stay at the spot beyond half an hour and a check-post would be set up to monitor the tourists.