Modi urges caution as Covid-19 cases in India on the decline

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the country needs to be prepared to meet the future challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic amidst reports that a third wave may strike by October.

Addressing the virtual launch of a crash course for preparing a one lakh frontline workers, Modi said this launch is an important next step in the fight against Covid-19, warning that "the virus is present and possibility of mutation is there".

"The second wave of the pandemic illustrated the kind of challenges that the virus may present to us. The country needs to stay prepared to meet the challenges and training more than one lakh frontline warriors is a step in that direction," he said.

A Reuters report quoting 40 health experts said India could experience a third wave of coronavirus by October.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan today counselled caution as several Indian states relax lockdown curbs in view of declining cases of Covid-19 after nearly two months of the devastating second wave of the disease.

Speaking at a function in New Delhi, Vardhan said with many corners of India gradually moving towards reopening after the second wave, they cannot afford the "laxity and any further increase in cases again".

Covid-19 cases across India are receding with the daily number of infections now hovering below the 70,000 mark. The country recorded 62,480 fresh cases of the infection in the last 24 hours, taking the overall tally to 29,762,793 while 1,587 people lost their lives, bringing the overall death toll to 383,490.

The active cases have declined to 798,656 -- comprising 2.68 percent of total infections -- and the national Covid-19 recovery rate has improved to 96.03 percent, as per data from the health ministry.

Vardhan said the government worked around the clock to stop Covid Covid-19 last year and "we were immensely successful in decreasing the active caseload to a minimum. However, with the arrival of vaccines early this year and things returning to normal, people gradually invited laxity in their adherence to the simple code of Covid-appropriate behaviour".

He said while the virus mutated and evolved itself "we let our guards down. All this compounded in the spike in cases snowballing into the second-wave".

Health Ministry Joint Secretary Luv Agarwal told a media briefing in New Delhi that about 78.6 percent decline in total active Covid-19 cases has been recorded since the peak on May 10 and an almost 85 percent fall noted in daily new cases of Covid since the highest reported peak on May 7.

There are 513 districts (out of 743 districts) with Covid-19 positivity rate of less than five percent, he said.