Dr. Harsh Vardhan marks International Day of Yoga performing Yoga with people of Delhi

With a thinly populated crowd maintaining social distancing while doing Yoga, the exercise was symbolic in nature to reinforce the message of “Yoga for Wellness”. The message of the 7^th International Day for Yoga is aligned to the ongoing COVID19 pandemic in the country. Yoga has played a significant role in checking anxiety and depression during the Pandemic when people isolated themselves in their homes to prevent transmission of the pathogen.

The Union Health Minister noted that although the celebrations are muted compared to previous years due to COVID protocols, the importance of Yoga has grown multifold in the conscience of the public for its role in promotion of Holistic Health. He thanked the Prime Minister for his broad vision in getting Yoga recognised worldwide through the institutionalization of the International day of Yoga by the UN in 2014. “Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji laid the foundations to popularise Yoga in Contemporary times,” he stated.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan explained why Yoga has always had a special place in his heart: “The Pandemic has shown that Health is the Ultimate Wealth. The cultivation of health and character should be encouraged in parallel among all individuals. Throughout my tenure as Health Minister when I was mostly pre-occupied in combating COVID-19, I sought refuge in Pranayama to relieve the stress from work and undertook an hour of walking after office. Ability to do the breathing of Pranayama with ease also provided a mental assurance to me that I was not infected with COVID.”

He expressed his deepest condolences to everyone present at the occasion who might have lost their near and dear ones to COVID-19. “Apart from Yoga and meditation, people should also strictly adhere to COVID Appropriate Behaviour, the social vaccine present with us from last year and also make efforts to get themselves and every eligible family member vaccinated,” he added. He asked everyone to protect their health, wear masks properly, wash their hands regularly with soap and avoid crowded places.

Thanking the Prime Minister for the universalisation of the vaccine drive, he reiterated his appeal to everyone to get themselves and all their eligible family members vaccinated. Expressing his satisfaction that 28 crore doses have been already administered in the country, he observed that with the increased availability of vaccines each consecutive month due to ramping up of production capacity and with many new vaccines waiting for approval in near future, the increased pace of vaccination would help to rapidly immunize the country against COVID19.Dr. Harsh Vardhan also cautioned everyone to not lend their ears to misinformation regarding the approved COVID vaccines.