People’s laxity major reason for Covid surge: Vardhan

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday said one of the major reasons for the surge in cases was people becoming lax towards following COVID-appropriate behaviour and urged them take up mass awareness campaigns to re-instill the importance of such measures among the masses.

Vardhan, who reviewed the COVID-19 situation and progress of vaccination in Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan, said these 11 states together contributed 54 per cent of the total cases and 65 per cent of the total deaths in the country, with a disproportionately high number of deaths in Maharashtra and Punjab.

A high test positivity rate was being seen in Maharashtra (25 per cent) and Chhattisgarh (14 per cent), he said, according to a Health Ministry statement. Vardhan noted that since February, these states have witnessed a steep increase in cases, majority of which have been reported in the younger population of 15-44 years, the ministry said in a statement.