'We are in dangerous zone', warns Centre

New Delhi/Mumbai: The Centre on Friday warned about the decline in usage of face masks in the country amid concerns over the Omicron variant of Coronavirus whose all India tally rose by nine to 32. It said people are operating at a risky and unacceptable" level and in a "danger zone" from the point of view of protection liability.

A three-and-half-year-old girl from Pune district was among the seven new Omicron cases from Maharashtra, according to an official release, in what could be the youngest person from the country infected by the new COVID strain. Four of the seven fresh cases were detected in Pune district and are contacts of three women travellers from Nigeria of Indian origin who were earlier confirmed to be infected with Omicron variant, an official said, adding they are all related. Gujarat also reported two new Omicron cases.

NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr V K Paul told a joint news conference in Delhi that the usage of masks in the country has declined to pre-second COVID-19 wave levels, and referred to an assessment on this aspect by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation(IHME).

"We warn you that it is still not yet time to remove the masks," as he stressed that both vaccines and masks are important.

"In a way we have again entered a danger zone. From the point of view of protection capability, we are now operating at a low level...at a risky and unacceptable level.We have to remember that both vaccines and masks are important," Paul said while referring to the assessment by the IHME, which is an independent global health research center at the University of Washington.

Referring to a recent analysis by the World Health Organisation(WHO), Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary in the Union Health Ministry, told the news conference that the WHO has highlighted that Public Health and Social Measures (PHSM) compliance is declining with increase in the vaccination rate. Continued on P4