India has just marked 100 crore vaccination feat and is pacing up well in vaccinating all adult population by end of the year. Health experts have cautioned to be careful during the upcoming festival season. The Healthcare system has done well to contain COVID by strictly implementing testing, tracking, treating and vaccination. These measures are bringing life to near normal.

However, experts caution that fight against COVID also requires community participation and any carelessness during the upcoming festivals may lead to a sudden surge in the number of COVID cases. This could derail the gain India has made as the virus is still present in the country and in many parts of the world.

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“People will venture out to shop, meet relatives during festivals. However, meeting people during a short span of time may lead to the spread of infection. Besides, during prayers or enjoying a meal together, people forget to wear a mask or don’t wear it correctly and many forget to maintain the physical distance. This complacency in behavior could undo country’s efforts to curb the pandemic,” warns Dr Ramji Singh, director, AIIMS, Kalyani, West Bengal.

The complacency in people’s behaviour early this year, says experts, was one of the major reasons behind the severe second wave. “When the infection spreads uncontrollably, it gives the virus an opportunity to mutate more. These mutations can change its characteristics—it can become less or more transmissible or virulent. The only way to contain the virus’s spread is by following Covid Appropriate Behaviour particularly during festive celebration,” says Dr Gitanjali Batmanabane, director, AIIMS, Bhubaneswar.

Dr Nitin Nagarkar, director AIIMS, Raipur says, people need to remember that early this year the cases had gone down only to shoot up in April, the month when the country saw a massive second wave of the pandemic. “In February, the country was reporting around 8000 cases, but as soon as individual and community become complacent, the cases surged alarmingly.  I urge people to remain cautious and to follow Covid Appropriate Behaviour, no matter what. People should keep wearing a mask and avoid crowding even while celebrating festivities.”

Social gatherings of all kinds including during the festival seasons, cautions Dr Sarman Singh, director, AIIMS, Bhopal, could turn into a spreader event if community and society fails to practice Covid Appropriate Protocols. “People must be careful while participating in gatherings or while going to any crowded market areas. But that does not mean that you cannot celebrate the festivals together. Technology has empowered us to remain emotionally and socially connected through virtual mediums.”

Agrees, Dr Saurabh Varshney, director, AIIMS Deogarh,  says unless people act responsibly, it is impossible to defeat the deadly SARS-Cov-2. “If we want to go back to a normal in the near future, we need to impose self-restrictions, and the most important is to avoid socialising during festivals. If we can limit our social gathering for a few months till the time a large proportion of our population gets inoculated, we can successfully create deterrent against spread of infection to a large extent,” he says. “In case it is essential and unavoidable, one has to follow physical distancing, wear a mask and maintain hand hygiene.”

The country aims to vaccinate its entire adult population people by the end of this year. Experts say the vaccine provides over 95 percent protection against severe disease and hospitalization, which means post-vaccination, most cases of COVID would be mild or asymptomatic. Government has also initiated a month long “har ghar dastak” campaign in November to ensure that it reaches out those who may have missed their 2^nd and 1^st dose for some contextual reason.

Till then, the community has to work collectively to contain the spread of the infection of the deadly contagion and protect life while celebrating festivals.