Union health minister Harsh Vardhan on Sunday blamed the spurt in Covid cases in the country on “irresponsible societal behaviour” and called upon everyone to hail Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership in tackling the pandemic.

“We have seen a spurt in the number of cases recently. This is because of irresponsible societal behaviour. People should not relax,” the minister told the Lok Sabha.

Modi had said in March the war against Covid would last 21 days.

India now has the second highest number of Covid cases in the world.