- Saturday, May 18, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
LARGE crowds at popular summer tourist destinations and in general places like markets have made health experts and government officials anxious as India is yet to come out of the devastating second wave of Covid-19 and a possible third wave looming large.
A number of states in India have eased restrictions on travel and public activity after cases started coming down in the last month or so, signalling that the devastating second wave has receded. People have subsequently gone out to hill stations and other tourist places, leading to huge crowds and it has ignited the fear that the pandemic could again turn threatening.
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Photographs have surfaced on social media showing thousands of people walking on a small street in Manali, a summer-time destination in Himachal Pradesh, while hundreds gathered on a small patch of rock below the Kempty waterfalls in Musoorie, a popular hill station in the northern state of Uttarakhand. The experts have called this behaviour of the tourists as reckless, especially in the wake of the second wave that killed more than two lakh people.
photos have emerged on social media showing thousands of people out on a small street at Manali and hundreds gathered on a small patch of rock under a waterfall in Mussoorie. The posts led to alarm among experts, with many criticising the behaviour of the tourists as reckless, just after the devastating second wave that killed over two lakh people.
Experts, officials express concern
“In a mood of recreation at tourist spots, there is particularly risk of Covid. Infection has always spread in crowded places faster. Tourism should be there, but if we are irresponsible and don’t follow Covid-appropriate behaviour, the virus can spread faster,” Dr VK Paul, member of the Indian government think tank NITI Aayog on health and a key member of the centre’s Covid task force, said.
“This is a cause of concern as these people will return and can infect others. The time is not quite there to be completely normal. All the gains (in the fight against Covid) can reverse. We can’t afford this kind of laxity. There needs to be a continuous campaign against Covid,” he told reporters on Friday (9).
Lav Agarwal, joint secretary of the health ministry told the reporters that the government would request the people to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and not expose them and their near and dear ones which could result in the loss of the battle against Covid.
On Thursday (8), prime minister Narendra Modi also expressed concern over people gathering in large numbers without wearing masks and not following social-distancing norms. He said while meeting his new council of ministers a day after a mega cabinet reshuffle that the photographs showing the crowd and people roaming without caring for Covid-time protocols should instil and fear and there was no room for complacency and carelessness, news agency ANI reported quoting sources.
“As ministers, our aim should not be to instil fear but to request people to keep taking all possible precautions so that we are able to move beyond this pandemic in the times to come,” Modi said, adding a single mistake could see far-reaching impacts.
Modi’s warning came as the health ministry, which got a new minister on Wednesday, also expressed shock over people indulging in “revenge travel” at a time when the second wave was yet to be completely over. The health ministry said the pictures of people crowding the hill stations are “frightening” as 73 districts across 17 states and union territories were still reporting a positivity rate of more than 10 per cent. Even in major cities like Delhi and Mumbai, people were found to be crowding local market places.
The Modi government faced a massive backlash both at home and abroad after the country’s health infrastructure faced serious challenges at the peak of the second wave with people struggling to get oxygen cylinders and beds at hospitals.
