The Union government said the coronavirus may emerge again and so Centre needs to collaborate with states, infrastructure needs to be ramped up, curbs and Covid-appropriate behaviour must be followed.
NITI Aayog member (health) Dr V K Paul dismissed criticism directed at the government that it was caught unaware of the intensity of the second Covid-19 wave.
Paul said, We kept warning again and again from this platform that the second wave of Covid-19 will come. It was said that the sero-positivity is 20 per cent, 80 per cent of the population is still vulnerable and that virus has not gone anywhere and other countries were also witnessing a resurge.
He also said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had conveyed to the country on March 17 about the emerging second wave and had said that we have to fight it.
Paul warned that there will be another peak and that the Centre and state governments have to be prepared. “So peak will come, the virus can again emerge, we know. So preparations have to be made at country level in collaboration with states, infrastructure has to be ramped up, containment measures have to be implemented and Covid appropriate behaviour has to be followed,” he said.