All of us need to step up to keep COVID at bay

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Amid rising COVID cases in the state attributed to the new sub-strain JN.1, Maharashtra Health Minister Tanaji Sawant has advised people not to panic adding that the state's healthcare system was fully geared to deal with any possible situation. The State Health Dept meanwhile, informed that regular genome sequencing was being conducted after the detection of the new sub-variant in the state.

Officials stated that Genetic Sequencing was being done regularly in the state. So far, only one patient with JN.1 variant has been found in the state. The patient was a 41-year-old man from Sindhudurg, they informed.

The department informed further that as per the instructions of the Union government, a drill was conducted from December 15 to 17 at all secondary and tertiary-level health institutions in the state to assess their preparedness for a fresh COVID wave.

While it is reassuring to see government and official healthcare machinery responding to the situation and doing their ‘prep' just in case we see a COVID tsunami, we citizens, cogs in the wheels of the system can take some action too.

Let us wash hands frequently and always keep up that habit, COVID or no COVID. This is a stellar practice and can safeguard us against other malaise too. Wash hands when returning from outdoors where our hands may have touched surfaces of public infra. It is good to wash hands several times a day, and keep germs at bay.

Keep the accent on the cleanliness of immediate surroundings and spread the clean message. COVID did see some awareness about cleanliness and we need to return to this with a fierceness and ensure the action continues for life.