COVID-19 situation not good, India needs mini lockdown: AIIMS Chief Randeep Guleria

New Delhi: Amid the rapidly increasing cases of COVID-19 across India, AIIMS Chief Randeep Guleria on Friday (April 2) said that a mini lockdown may be required to get a grip on the deteriorating situation.

Guleria said that the situation in the country with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic is quite worrying as the cases continue to mount steadily, especially in the last few days.

He cautioned that maintaining social distancing that is, keeping six-feet away from each other, is required even for those who have been inoculated against the virus. He also strongly suggested people to wear masks at public places.

The AIIMS chief attributed the sharp spike in the number of cases to the negligence of people, mainly due to public gatherings.

“Negligence leads to illness,” said Guleria in a message to the people.

He said that the country needs about 200 crore doses to vaccinate the entire population.

Although recovery rate among children has been found high, said Guleria, it is a cause for concern that many children are contracting the infection.

He also emphasized on the need to create containment zones, so that the spread of the virus could be kept in check.

India recorded its highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases in the last six months with 81,466 new infections being reported in a span of 24 hours.

The new cases recorded on Friday took the total tally of cases to 1,23,03,6131 and over 469 more deaths were reported, taking the total death toll to 163,396, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

Registering a steady increase for the 23rd day in a row, the active cases have increased to 6,14,696, while the total recovery stands at 1,15,25,039, the data stated.