There are 3 categories of Indians based on 'public mindset' about COVID: Govt evaluation

As the Government is in the process of boosting the healthcare facilities in the country, now doctors in remote areas will be trained on COVID-19 appropriate practices. The Centre will be getting assistance from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), to organise training programs for doctors. AIIMS Director, Randeep Guleria on Friday informed that there is a possibility that doctors in villages and towns do not have the correct information. A formation of protocol and a module is in process for the programme to start. 

Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry, in a meeting said that the government evaluation has revealed that the public mindset of the coronavirus is divided into three categories:

• Misled people thinking Coronavirus is a hoax and there is no requirement of wearing mask or following protocols.
• Those who are panicking without any reason and hoarding necessary equipment.
• The last category is of those who were masking up and following COVID-appropriate behavior.

Fresh directions for youngsters

With the decision to train rural doctors, the government has also released fresh instructions for children regarding hospitalization. The guidelines are similar to those for adults which is, no need for admission to the hospital unless breathing problem arises. In the rest of the cases, home isolation is preferred with the usage of common medicines for fever and if coughing does not stop for five days then steroids are to be taken after consulting doctors. 

The instructions and guidelines come at a time when India is in desperate need of curbing the rise in cases and for providing the relevant resources for patients. State and central governments are trying to take every possible step including ramping up production, vaccination for all, and releasing advisory for COVID appropriate behavior.  

India COVID-19 cases

The country on Friday reported another fearful milestone in fresh cases by registering more than 4,00,000 COVID-19 positives taking the cumulative caseload to 19,164,969. This is the first time when India has recorded this mark since the outbreak of the pandemic. A total of 3,523 people died in the last 24 hours taking the toll to 211,835. Currently, there are 3.3 million active cases in India. States reporting a high number of fresh COVID-19 cases include Maharashtra with 62,919 infections, followed by Karnataka with 48,296, and Kerala that reported 37,199 in the past 24 hours.