India Better Positioned Against COVID-19, But No Space For Complacency, Says Harsh Vardhan

New Delhi: India is better positioned in the fight against COVID-19 compared to other countries but there is no space for complacency, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Tuesday.

He chaired the 16th meeting of the high-level group of ministers on COVID-19, which reviewed the containment strategies pertaining to the pandemic via video-conferencing here, said the heath ministry.

The death toll due to coronavirus infection rose to 7,466 and the cases mounted to 2,66,598 in the country.

The minister stressed that people need to be more disciplined and adopt appropriate behaviour to ensure norms of physical distancing, use of face covers, hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette as the country entered the “Unlock 1.0 phase”

He appealed to the heads of departments of all government offices, “Let us also not forget the ‘social vaccine’ against COVID-19 through strict adherence of norms of physical distancing, hand hygiene and mask/face covers.”