Principal Scientific Advisor to Centre K VijayRaghavan on Friday said that if strong measures are taken then the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic may not happen at all in the country. 

“If we take strong measures, the third wave may not happen in all the places or indeed anywhere at all. It depends much on how effectively the guidance is implemented at the local level, in the states, in districts and in the cities everywhere,” he said.

While briefing about the Covid-19 situation in the country, Additional Secretary (Health) Arti Ahuja informed that 12 States have more than one lakh active cases in, 50,000 to one lakh active cases in seven States, while 17 States have less than 50,000 active cases of Covid -19.

“Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Haryana and Bihar have a high caseload,” she said. Adding, “Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Jharkhand are the states/UTs where cases were increasing earlier but are now plateauing gradually.”

‘16.5 cr doses administered so far’

While talking about the vaccination drive, Ahuja said that as many as 11.81 lakh people have been given the first dose, in the age group of 18-44 years. So far, a total of 16.5 crore doses have been administered across all categories.

Ahuja further stated that there has been an upward trend in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Haryana, Odisha and Uttarakhand.

“Other states with an increasing trend in daily new cases are Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry, Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, and Nagaland,” the Additional Secretary (Health) said.