Government to launch covid awareness campaign

The government is set to launch an awareness campaign from Thursday on containing the spread of covid-19, Prakash Javadekar, Union minister of environment, forest and climate change, said on Wednesday.

“Till the time a vaccine for covid-19 is available, the public needs to wear masks properly, follow social distancing, and hand and respiratory hygiene as part of the efforts to check the spread of the virus. These rules are a strong defence against covid-19," he said.

The government has been urging people to follow the measures to stop the transmission of the virus, the minister said. “There will be posters, banners and stickers placed at public places, metros, trains, auto rickshaws and other public transportation modes to spread the message," he said.

The Centre will also launch a social media campaign, before the winter sets in, as there will be a need to take more precautions, he said.

Meanwhile, India reported 72,049 new covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours to take the total count to 6,794,599 on Wednesday, with 104,891 deaths. “Ten states and UTs account for 78% of the new confirmed cases. Maharashtra continues to lead this tally. It has accounted for more than 12,000, followed by Karnataka



with nearly 10,000 cases," the Union health ministry said.

As many as 986 covid-19 fatalities were reported from across India in the past 24 hours, with 10 states accounting for 83% of these deaths. Maharashtra reported 370 deaths, followed by Karnataka with 91, the government said.

However, the national recovery rate jumped past 85% on Wednesday, with 82,203 recoveries in the past 24 hours. the government said. So far, 5,778,966 people have recovered from covid-19. Recoveries have exceeded the active cases, which number 910,742, by more than 6.30 times, indicating that the recoveries are consistently rising.

“The active caseload of the country has further slid to 13.44% of the total positive cases and is continuously declining. Matching the rise in the national figure, 18 states and UTs have a recovery rate more than the national average," the ministry said.

More than 75% of the new recoveries were reported from Maharashtra, Karnataka Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Delhi. Maharashtra tops the list with nearly 17,000 recoveries, while Karnataka accounted for more than 10,000 discharged patients in a single day, the ministry said.