Amid rise in daily count of coronavirus cases, the Centre on Tuesday said it is getting complaints from state governments about people becoming lax in taking precautions and asserted that public health measures like social distancing and wearing masks remain key to slowing the pandemic.
Addressing a press briefing, NITI Aayog member V K Paul, who also heads the national task force on COVID-19, said the infection was spreading from bigger cities to smaller cities and now to villages near urban areas
He said there have been repeated complaints from states about people becoming lax in following COVID-19 appropriate behaviour.
“We are getting complaints from state governments that people have become lax in following COVID-appropriate behaviour,” he said while stressing that following public health measures like social distancing, wearing masks, maintaining hand hygiene and avoiding large gatherings are crucial to prevent the infection spread, especially when the economy is opening up. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the Centre has been telling the states and UTs consistently that the strategy to fight the pandemic should focus on chasing the virus, “but we can chase the virus only when we catch the missing persons”.