Covid Not Over Yet, Dr VK Paul Sounds Caution, Urges People to Take Precaution Dose

As COVID-19 cases rise in the country especially in Delhi and Mumbai, Dr VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog warned that the pandemic is still not over and emphasized the need for people to take precaution dose.

“We need to protect ourselves and need to take precaution dose. Those who have taken a second dose and exceeded 6 months should take the precautionary dose soon. It was said there was slowness in the starting but in 75 days to Amrit Mahotsav, there has been an improvement in inoculation rate and it is satisfactory,” Paul said, news agency ANI reported.

The NITI Aayog member said there is no dearth of vaccines and eligible beneficiaries should go to the vaccination centre.

“It was 8 per cent of precaution dose vaccination rate and now it has reached 17 per cent at present within a month but this speed needs to increase,” he added.

ALSO READ: Omicron Sub-variant BA-2.75 Found in Delhi likely to cause a COVID wave, warn Experts

Commenting on the surge in COVID infections, Paul said, “Cases are around 16,000 and testing norms are there and we are only testing close contact when they have symptoms. We are also reporting deaths and serious cases are also witnessed, although not as serious as they used to be in previous waves. Comorbidity patients could have a serious impact but the solution is precaution dose and when someone has taken precaution jab, then mortality and serious impact are reduced significantly.”

ALSO READ: Covid Surge Could Mean Endemicity Soon; Possibility of Monkeypox Pandemic Low: Former ICMR Scientist

India recorded 9,062 new Covid infections recorded in the last 24 hours, taking the active caseload to 1,05,058. The daily positivity rate reached 2.49 per cent while weekly positivity rate escalated to 4.38 per cent, according to the Ministry of Health’s data on Wednesday.

Read the Latest News and Breaking News here