New Delhi: While reiterating that the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has only ebbed and not ended, the Union Health Ministry expressed concern over people flocking to tourist spots in droves. The ministry also shared pictures of people visiting various hill stations and tourist centres across the country by throwing caution to the winds.
“The spread of coronavirus is still on, and people are indulging in revenge travel, which is dangerous. The photos of crowds moving around in Manali, Mussourie, Laxmi Nagar and Dadar without following COVID-19 protocol are pretty unsettling. The virus has not exhausted as it is very much around,” said Lav Agarwal, Secretary of Health Ministry.
Flagging the issue Director General of Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) Dr Balram Bhargava said that focus should be on the measures taken by people to curb the spread of the highly contagious virus.
He noted that research was on relating to the Covaxin booster dose though no call had been taken on its availability.
Sputnik V vaccine production starts in India
Morpen Laboratories has started production of Russian vaccine Sputnik V at its facility in Himachal Pradesh, and the first test batches of the vaccine would be shipped to Russia for quality assessment. Full-scale production of vaccine will start only after getting the go-ahead signal in terms of quality from Russia. The vaccines churned out from the facility will be used in India and also be exported to other countries. Meanwhile, Russia has started trials of Sputnik V vaccine among children aged 12 to 17.
