'If we are disciplined, then we can stay safe,' says Health Ministry on COVID third wave

New Delhi [India], June 22 (ANI): The government has cautioned people not to lower their guard against COVID-19, in view of a likely third-wave peak of the pandemic.
Member-Health NITI Aayog Dr VK Paul on Tuesday said that if the people are disciplined and follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and a majority of people get themselves vaccinated then a COVID-19 third wave can be mitigated.
"If we are disciplined--system's discipline, health system's response, surveillance's response, coupled with individual and societal responsibility, we can stay safe. Then vaccine will protect us", Dr VK Paul said in his weekly press conference.
Paul also spoke about that rural coverage of vaccines has been remarkably emphasized.
"63.7 per cent of the total vaccine doses administered yesterday were in villages and 36 per cent in urban areas", the NITI Aayog member added.
Speaking further about rural vaccination, he said, "More than half of the doses administered over the last few weeks were inoculated in rural areas, which makes it clear that rural outreach is possible. We are fully hopeful and confident that it is completely possible for us to cover rural areas."
Dr Paul emphasised that gender balance in inoculation needs to be focused and said, "46 per cent of the people who received the vaccine yesterday were women and 53 per cent were men. We have to work on this imbalance, create awareness among women and bring them forward."
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan revealed that India achieved a historic milestone of 88.09 lakh doses administered in a single day on 21st June 2021.
"Madhya Pradesh administered the highest number of doses over 17 lakh. Over 11 lakh doses in Karnataka, over 7 lakh in Uttar Pradesh, 5.75 lakh in Bihar, 5.15 lakh in Haryana and Gujarat, 4.60 lakh in Rajasthan, 3.97 lakh in Tamil Nadu, 3.85 lakh in Maharashtra and 3.68 lakh in Assam--top 10 states", he added.
As many as 42,640 fresh COVID-19 infections were reported in the last 24 hours, the lowest daily spike after 91 days, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday. The second wave of COVID-19 seems to be abating as the country has been witnessing a continuous decline in fresh coronavirus cases for the past few weeks. (ANI)