Political leaders should urge people to observe Covid guidelines: Dr Samiran Panda

Amid a huge concern of a possible spike in Covid19 cases due to the continuing political rallies in poll-bound states, Dr Samiran Panda a senior scientist and head of epidemiology division at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Saturday suggested that political leaders can play an active role by asking supporters to adhere to the Covid19 behaviour.

New Delhi: Amid a huge concern of a possible spike in Covid19 cases due to the ongoing political rallies in poll-bound states, Dr Samiran Panda a senior scientist and head of the epidemiology division at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Saturday suggest that political leaders can play an active role by asking supporters to adhere to the Covid19 behaviour.

"When politicians approach voters seeking votes, they should also appeal the people to adhere to the Covid appropriate behaviour. This appeal, in fact, could play a major role in containing the spread of the infection in poll-bound states," Dr Panda told to ETV Bharat.

Asserting the fact that Covid19 infection could turn to be a super spreader, Dr Panda said that it's the duty of every citizen to avoid all kind of mass gathering.

In fact, a crucial meeting convened by Union Health Ministry with 12 states and UTs-reporting surge in cases, on Saturday emphasised the renewed attention to ensure Covid appropriate behaviour. The meeting also emphasised a five-fold strategy for effective containment of the pandemic.

The meeting chaired by health secretary Rajesh Bhushan has also suggested the state officials ensure Covid appropriate behaviour in crowded places like markets, interstate bus stands, schools, colleges, railway stations etc.

The meeting highlighted that local community leaders, religious heads, and other influencers could play a major role in this regard.

The meeting also asked the states and UTs to optimally utilise all vaccination capacities within the public and private sectors in all districts and make full use of available vaccine stocks.

States were also asked to make advance planning of logistics and infrastructures management for 1-1.5 months on any unchecked spread of infection among the community may overwhelm the local administration.

The states were informed that the country has seen the sharpest rise in weekly Covid cases (7.7 per cent) and fatalities (5.1 per cent) since May 2020. As many as 46 districts from 12 states have contributed 71 per cent of the cases and 69 per cent of deaths this month.

States like Maharastra, Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi, J&K, Karnataka, Punjab and Bihar are the high burden states at present.

Talking to ETV Bharat, Dr Tamorish Kole, president of the Asian Society for Emergency Medicine said that it's only the Covid appropriate behaviour that could stop the spread of the infection.

"At the same time, people should come forward and take the vaccination. Our vaccines have the capability to fight the new variants of Covid19," said Dr Kole.

Although scientists and health experts in India have ruled out the possibility of any link between the present surge in Covid19 cases and the new variant, Dr Kole said that the infection could spread if people don't adhere to the Covid appropriate behaviour like wearing masks and avoid mass gathering.