Mumbai: The government said on Tuesday the predictions about a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic should be taken seriously as it warned that the gains made so far will come to a nought if people continue to violate Covid-19 appropriate behaviour. The comments by Lav Agarwal, joint secretary in the health ministry, came amid reports of thousands of people flocking to hill stations and flouting Covid-19 norms. Agarwal, while addressing a press conference on the coronavirus pandemic in the country, said people have failed to understand that adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour will prevent or cause any future waves of the coronavirus pandemic. "We would like to request to everyone -- when we talk about the third wave, we are taking it as a weather update and not understanding its seriousness and our responsibilities associated with it," Agarwal said.

Agarwal said that approximately 73.4 per cent of the new Covid-19 cases reported so far in July were from Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. He added that 55 districts across the country reported a positivity rate of more than 10 per cent in the week ending July 13.

He also said that central teams have been rushed to Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Meghalaya, Odisha, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura to support them in COVID-19 management.NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr V K Paul, who was also present at the press conference, said a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic is being reported from across the world as he urged people to make efforts to ensure that it does not happen in India.