EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, June 21: AAP leader and social activist Gurmeet Singh urged the centre Government to make preparations in advance, to effectively deal with a possible third wave of Covid-19.
Singh said that, Central Government should need to gauge basic needs and taking proactive measure to prioritize vaccinations for the people of the country and also learn from the past experiences, adopt best practices and conducted technology-led awareness campaigns on the importance of vaccination.
He said first wave created a supply problem as the transportation sector was shut down for a few months, the biggest toll of the second wave was in terms of a demand shock—loss of mobility, discretionary spending and employment besides inventory accumulation, according to the Reserve Bank of India.
Further, several parts of rural India witnessed Covid-19 cases in the second wave, unlike in the first. Consequently, commodities like vegetables, pulses and coffee supplies were affected. During the second wave, there was a dearth of oxygen. However, due to cylinder and tanker shortages, the demands weren’t met on time. Oxygen was transported via trains and flights but on many occasions failed to meet full demand requirements. Amidst the chaos, the best thing that happened in the second wave was the vaccination drive.
Though the spread of infection has been showing a declining trend in the second wave since June, it is certainly not the end of Covid-19. Even a single case of infection left unnoticed could spread and repeat the whole cycle of adversity. The Centre Government must focus on driving awareness and creating infrastructure towards promoting citizen-driven responsiveness, and also play a vital role to contain the pandemic and the general public needs to cooperate and abide by the rules, Singh said. |
