Irresponsible people not following norms driving Covid in India; masks lower deaths: ICMR

ICMR DG Dr Balram stated that "irresponsible people" who were not following norms to prevent the spread of COVID-19 were driving Coronavirus pandemic in India. Dr Bhargava Balram in a news conference on Tuesday said that there are two types of people - people who feel that there is no need to be frightened from the pandemic and the others who are very cautious.

'Less cautious people are driving the pandemic'

"I would not say younger or older people, instead--I would say, irresponsible people who are not using the face masks, not maintaining social distaining are the ones who are driving the pandemic in India," Dr Bhargava said. "I think you may find cases in people who are very cautious as well. But they (cautious people) are not driving the pandemic, but it is less cautious people who are driving the pandemic," he said.

Echoing the ICMR chief, Dr Raman Kumar, President of the Academy of Family Physicians of India, said, there is enough evidence to suggest that wearing masks plays a preventive role against COVID-19.

"Studies have confirmed that places where people followed mask-wearing habits, there were lower COVID-19 cases and a lower number of deaths were reported. When people remove masks casually and don't wear them in crowded places, they not only put themselves in the risk of infection but also become an infection threat for others. It is important that people make mask wearing a routine to win the war against COVID 19," he said.

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'Capacity to conduct one million tests per day'

The ICMR DG also informed that India's testing capacity has increased significantly from 10 tests to 10 lakh tests per day and all ministries have worked to achieve this. Dr Bhargava said 1,524 testing labs in the country have a capacity of conducting one million tests per day and the number of testing kits made in the country has also gone up significantly.

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Meanwhile, India in the last 24 hours reported 60,975 COVID-19 cases, taking its overall coronavirus tally 31,67,324, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday. The total cases include 7,04,348 active cases and 24,04,585 patients cured/discharged/migrated. India in the last 24 hours has reported 848 deaths in the last 24 hours due to COVID-19 taking the overall toll to 58,390 deaths.

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(With agency inputs)