Govt shares graph showing dip in use of masks as COVID-19 curbs are relaxed

Coronavirus Second Wave: The union government has expressed concern over the minimal use of face masks. The ministry said that face masks should now be the new normal for us.

Luv Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry said that "as we have resumed activities, analysis shows a projected decline in the use of face masks. We should include the use of face masks in our daily routine as the new normal".

Luv Aggarwal added that new cases are decreasing in the country and the average daily cases have also dropped. There are 73 districts in the country where more than 100 cases are coming up.

He said, “In the first week of May, there were 531 such districts where more than 100 new cases were being reported daily. Now only 73 such districts are left”.

Apart from this, Aggarwal stated that there has also been a decrease in active cases. At present, the number of active cases i.e. patients undergoing treatment is 4,30,422. With this, the recovery rate has gone up to 97.30 percent.

“At around May 10, there were close to 37 lakh active cases in the country, now the number of active cases is around 4,30,000. The recovery rate was 83 percent on May 12, which has now increased to 97.30 percent. We are doing about 18 lakh tests daily," he elaborated.

The weekly positivity rate in the country is 2.4 percent. The daily positivity rate has also come down. There are 47 such districts where the positivity rate is more than 10 percent.

The Joint Secretary of Union Health Ministry emphasised that we are in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic and the second wave is still on.

With the spread of the Delta variant, cases are increasing in many countries around the world. Cases are increasing in countries like Myanmar, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia. More cases are being reported as compared to the previous COVID peak.