Representational image  |  Photo Credit: PTI
New Delhi: With some cities or states in India beginning to see plateauing of coronavirus cases, the WHO warned against any laxity in following COVID-appropriate behaviour, saying that the threat still persists and stressed the need for situation-specific measures.
Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia Region, said that even though some cities or states in India are witnessing a drop in COVID-19 cases, the risk persists and the focus must be on reducing transmission.
The senior WHO official said the risk of COVID-19 remains high and no country, irrespective of their current transmission scenario, is “out of the woods” yet.
“Hence, even though some cities or states may be beginning to see plateauing of cases, the risk persists. We need to continue to remain vigilant. Our focus must be on reducing transmission. Implementing situation-specific public health and social measures and increasing vaccine coverage – that’s the way forward for all countries in the ongoing pandemic,” Singh told PTI.
“We are still in the midst of the pandemic and the focus should be to curtail the virus spread and save lives. By becoming endemic doesn’t mean that the virus will not be a cause of concern,” she said.
The Union Health Ministry said on Thursday that early indications of COVID cases plateauing have been reported in certain geographies in the country but the trend needs to be observed.
The states where a drop in COVID cases and positivity rate has been observed are Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Odisha, Haryana and West Bengal.
Lav Agarwal, the joint secretary in the Health Ministry said, “A clear trend in terms of fewer Covid cases requiring oxygen-supported beds or ICU beds has been observed.”