Health officials sound alarm over 2nd Covid wave in Vizag

VISAKHAPATNAM: Just when locals in Vizag were expecting to see no new

Covid-19

cases being reported, numbers have begin rising steadily this month. Active

cases

have reached around 100 now after coming down to 15 just three weeks ago. Health officials have cautioned that the onset of a

second wave

could be felt even more in the coming days.


Following the municipal elections and

Maha Sivarathri

celebrations — in which thousands took holy dips in the sea — in the week gone by and Holi yet to come this month, a spike in Covid-19 cases looks very likely. Since January, daily new cases had been on the wane with new cases being as low as two to three till February.

However, in March these numbers have shot up to 15 to 23 new cases on most days. The number of active cases had reduced from 115 on February 1 to just 15 on February 22 but since March 3, a rise was observed, which escalated to 98 on March 12.

“In Visakhapatnam, the first wave of Covid-19 started a bit late, from April to May, as compared to the rest of Andhra Pradesh and the country. The second wave is also likely to be felt after March this year. With most people mistakenly thinking that the threat of the pandemic no longer exists and not adhering to Covid-19 protocols such as wearing masks and social distancing, cases are now seeing a spike and are likely to escalate further with mass movement and gatherings taking place on various festive and socio-political occasions,” said Covid-19 nodal officer for north coastal Andhra Pradesh, Dr PV Sudhakar.