People must learn to live with virus: Govt

NEW DELHI: "We have to

learn to live with the virus," the government said on Friday, urging people to make COVID-19 prevention guidelines a part of their lives as a behavioural change amid easing of lockdown restrictions and migrant labourers returning home. Addressing a press conference, joint secretary in the health ministry Lav Agarwal said there has been a reduction in the doubling time of COVID19 cases in the country from 12 days till two days ago to 10 now because of the spike in cases at some places, even as he asserted that the peak of the disease can be avoided if the prescribed dos and don'ts are followed.

"As we talk of relaxations to the lockdown and of migrant workers returning back to their respective homes, there is a big challenge in front of us that we also have to learn to live with the virus, he said.

And when we are talking about learning to live with the virus then it is very important that the guidelines that are there on saving oneself from the virus are adopted in the community as a behavioural change," Agarwal said. It is a big challenge and the government needs community support for it, he said.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had also recently said people will have to be ready to live with the novel Coronavirus and that time has come to reopen the city, as the government announced certain relaxations.

Giving district-wise situation of Coronavirus cases, Agarwal said there are 216 districts in which no COVID-19 case has been reported till date.

Responding to a question on how many cases India may witness if the peak comes in Junejuly, the official said different organisations have projected a figure of some thousands to some crores based on their analysis.

"They are widely varying that determining field level action based on that will be slightly difficult. We do an analysis based on the current growth rate of cases and doubling rate, according to analysis, our doubling rate is now 10 days and simultaneously, we do an analysis of districts and cities where cases are rising. "On the basis of that we see where more action and additional efforts are required to increase the doubling time of cases," Agarwal said.

Stating that some states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have witnessed a rise in cases during the last few days, Agarwal stressed the need to strengthen containment efforts to stop the rise, along with proper adherence to measures such as physical distancing at field level.