With Kashmir facing second wave of COVID-19, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) Wednesday warned that the new wave could be worse than the first.
“Second waves of pandemics have been harsher,” said DAK President Dr Nisar-ul-Hassan.
“The second waves of coronavirus in United States and Europe were uniformly worse than the first,” he said.
“Kashmir is currently under the grip of a second wave and the cases are rising and hospitalisations too.” Dr Hassan said that if countermeasures are not put in place, Kashmir could end up having a situation worse than the last year.
“This is because vast majority of people in Kashmir are still susceptible to the virus and the virus will go where it is given room to run, and will find people who are vulnerable to infection,” he said. “People have got pandemic fatigue. They are tired of restrictions, wearing masks, being away from family and friends, and increasingly fed up with the new normal routines. They have thrown caution to the wind.” Dr Hassan said that many people do not wear masks and do not care about social distancing.
“This behavior will facilitate transmission of the virus that can reignite an outbreak,” he said.