New Delhi: Despite a massive surge in Covid-19 cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been meeting India’s top defence officials — but all meetings have been outdoors, following all the safety protocols.
This comes amid recent studies claiming that small and micron-scale aerosol droplets are primarily responsible for the spread of Covid-19, especially indoors.
PM Modi Thursday met Chief of Army Staff General M.M. Naravane to discuss the Army’s initiatives to help in Covid-19 management. Sitting across a table at the PM’s residence at Lok Kalyan Marg in New Delhi, both Modi and Naravane were wearing masks and maintaining adequate distance.
On Wednesday, the PM held a meeting with Air Chief Marshal R.K.S. Bhadauria to take stock of the efforts of the Indian Air Force to deal with the Covid situation. Bhadauria and Modi were seen sitting across two separate tables
In another meeting Monday, PM Modi met CDS General Bipin Rawat at his residence.
PM Modi’s in-person meetings come at a time when there has been a massive spike in cases with India’s Covid tally reaching 3.79 lakh cases and more than 3,600 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Many top policymakers and officials in the central government are also out of action after getting infected by the virus. Over two dozen secretaries, additional secretaries and joint secretaries across central government ministries, including the health ministry, have tested positive for the coronavirus in April.
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What science says
An MIT study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America recently, pointed out that there is now overwhelming evidence that relatively small, micron-scale aerosol droplets are primarily responsible for the spread of Covid-19, especially indoors.
Airborne transmission arises through the inhalation of aerosol droplets exhaled by an infected person and is thought to be the primary transmission route of Covid-19. The respiratory droplets are mixed uniformly through an indoor and unventilated space, thus increasing the chance of infection.
The study noted that small infected drops may accumulate and remain suspended by the ambient airflow and mixed throughout the room, until they are removed by the ventilation outflow or inhaled.
In that case, staying outdoors while wearing masks and maintaining social distancing can relatively lessen the spread of Covid-19.
In the study of 7,324 early cases outside the Hubei Province in China, the authors found that all clusters of three or more cases occurred indoors, with 80 per cent arising inside apartment homes and 34 per cent potentially involving public transportation. Only a single transmission was recorded outdoors.
Finally, the fact that face mask directives have been more effective than either lockdowns or social distancing in controlling the spread of Covid-19 is consistent with indoor airborne transmission as the primary driver of the pandemic.
(Edited by Debalina Dey)
Also read: More people died of Covid in Delhi in last 4 days than in Mumbai since March
In my comments below the total estimated vaccination requirement should be read as 180 crore ( 135 crore x 0.67 x 2) doses, instead of just 180 doses. This requirement is undoubtedly huge. No one is blaming the current government for overpopulation. But population is an essential factor that simply cannot be overlooked or excluded in any vaccination plan. Else, the plan is simply void and meaningless.
This is a useless media company . Avoid this shithole misleading PRINT
Typical anti BJP rant. Nothing better is expected from MISPRINT.
Science has been saying to mask up when outside and not attend crowded places.
How many articles print did when Modi took large rallies that too unmasked?
Print masquerades as neutral journalism when all it actually is just another sold out media outlet.
A little too less and a little too late. If this common sense had prevailed and these protocols followed earlier, then the state election rallies and Kumbh Mela wouldn’t have turned into super spreaders. And now it appears more like a Photo-op session, an eye wash and another PR exercise to control the damages already done. Absolutely devastated by the apathy and lack of empathy of the ruling dispensation. History will remember and then, Karma is a bitch!
This Chaiwala is slimmy! He must have been advised by going through pages of ‘ Feruer’ – the biography of world’s worst dectator! This fellow does not want to leave behaind any record to fix him later by opposition. Outdoor is good for making ‘deals’. May be he wants to declare emergency and hence out door deal with General!
The blood of innocents on the hands of those who supported the BJP and that will be their karma
This man has been the cause of thousands of deaths in Gujarat and yet the uneducated illegitimate bhakts have given this evil a mandate, if they don’t regret this the blood of innocents will be their karma.
Good to remember the british invaders who has killed millions of children of this nation after crucifying them and looted this country for 3+ centuries. We children of Bharat didn’t invade europe and loot them. My boy, learn from the history!
Feku doing more publicity.
He should resign.