'Next 3 months decisive in determining COVID situation in country'

Addressing a review meeting with officials of the Uttar Pradesh government, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said the next three months are going to be crucial to know the COVID situation in the country and urged people to follow COVID- appropriate behaviour during the coming festival and winter season.

New Delhi: Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Friday said that the next three months are going to be decisive in determining the situation of COVID in the country and urged people to follow COVID appropriate behaviour during the coming festival and winter season.

Addressing a review meeting with officials of the Uttar Pradesh government, Vardhan said, "Appropriate measures are being taken to combat COVID-19. But the next three months are going to be decisive in determining the situation of COVID in the country. If we take adequate precaution and follow COVID-appropriate behaviour in the coming festival and winter season, we will be in a better position to fight corona."

He asserted that the state needs to focus on increasing testing, surveillance, contact tracing, and early diagnosis to keep the fatality rate low.

"For a big state like Uttar Pradesh, it becomes important that maximum thrust is given to simple precautionary measures which are effective in preventing the Coronavirus to a large extent like wearing mask/face cover especially in public spaces, and following hand and respiratory etiquettes," Vardhan said.

The Union Minister further appreciated the efforts of Uttar Pradesh in vaccinating those children who were left out of immunisation due to COVID-19.

He also informed that as of date Uttar Pradesh has a COVID-19 fatality rate of 1.46 which is less than the national average, while the recovery rate of the state (92.2 per cent) is also more than the national recovery rate. The positivity rate is 3.44 per cent.

Vardhan informed that in the last three months, the country has seen significant improvement in the COVID parameters.

"The number of active cases are less than 7 lakh and the doubling rate has increased to 97.2 days, as of now. The journey which started from having just one lab, we have come a long way in now having nearly 2000 labs in the country. The number of total tests conducted across the country have surpassed 10 crore. This is a positive indication that we are moving in the right direction," he said.

(ANI)