Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Gulf Today Report

India is battling the coronavirus on an industrial-strength scale.

On Friday the casualty number hit 542, one of the least since April, the Health Ministry said, though 40,026 people were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours.

But, according to an official, the pace of the fall in coronavirus cases has slackened, which has raised a red flag for the government. The nation reported nearly 39,000 new virus cases in the last 24 hours.

According to a senior member of the public policy think tank, Niti Aayog, the slow decline in Covid cases is a warning signal. The next 100 to 125 days are crucial in the war against the coronavirus in India, Dr V.K. Paul, Member-Health, Niti Aayog, said, according to a report in a leading TV news channel.

There are other hazard zones. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has voiced concern over the spiral in Covid cases in Kerala and Maharashtra.

Also, what is alarming is that the malignant Delta Covid variant has infected over 80 per cent of the populace, including those who took at least one vaccine dose during the second wave. This is what the country’s top medical body, Indian Council of Medical Research, said in a study. The second wave has not ebbed yet, as some states in the northeast and South India are still waging a war against it, according to an official of the Covid expert panel.

Modi told chief ministers of some states at a meeting on Friday that there should be no third wave.

Even as the second wave goes on, the number of cases for long Covid has multiplied four-fold, a leading hospital group said on Friday.