PANAJI: Though the state is witnessing a dip in new cases of Covid-19 and since last Sunday the daily count of cases has gone below the 500-mark, people will have to continue to follow the Covid safety norms considering the unpredictability of the virus.
“Even if the virus spread is under control, and the daily average of new infections drops below 200 or even 100, the measures against the virus cannot be done away with.
In fact, that would be the crucial time — the period when infections will be negligible — and the public will have to strictly follow what they are doing now so that the anticipated third wave doesn’t happen,” state epidemiologist Dr Utkarsh Betodkar told TOI.
The measures are required to be followed scrupulously now, people will have to comply with an equal earnest when the cases decrease drastically, he said.
“It will be more important that patients in home isolation adhere to home quarantine standard operating procedures (SOPs) fully when the cases drop.
By stepping out of a house when they are required to be in the quarantine, if they think they are fooling either the government or society, then they are mistaken.
They will be fooling themselves.
Their misadventure can lead to rise in infections,” Betodkar said.
People, he said, will have to avoid gatherings and crowds at all costs.
“The cases shot up exponentially due to all kinds of gatherings in the state.
We don’t know when the government plans to open up, but when the restrictions are lifted, people will have to avoid gatherings,” he said.
The people are frustrated by being indoors for so long and they are longing to go out, but they will have to be patient and take measures to remain safe, the epidemiologist said.
They can have their functions and celebrations when the overall scenario normalises, he said.
Betodkar said that since Covid-19 has thrown up numerous surprises, he will not like to comment if the infectivity of the strain – the double mutant – will lessen in the next few months.
The state has not seen new strains, apart from four, including the double mutant Maharashtra strain, that were detected two months ago.
The epidemiologist, however, said that the state will be better prepared for the possible third wave which may hit the state in September, as the task force and the expert committee constituted last month, have swung into action.