New Delhi, Oct 7 (IANS): Amid growing public indifference to wear masks and avoid mass gatherings, the Union Cabinet has decided to launch a public awareness campaign from Thursday to remind the public that the pandemic is still raging.

"Masks, social distancing and washing hands are the three ways to remain safe, in the absence of any vaccine. We have decided to launch a public campaign to raise awareness about these measures in public places," said Union Minister Prakash Javadekar while briefing the media on cabinet decisions.

He said that the campaign will be especially focused on places where people gather such as airports, railway stations, bus depots, police stations, markets, among other places. Javadekar added that simultaneously a social media campaign will be kicked off to make people aware.

Javadekar said India has so far been able to keep the Covid casualty count low and recoveries high. The campaign is intended to keep it that way. The cabinet's decision comes in the wake of the growing indifference of people to wear masks or maintain social distancing.

With a fresh spike of 72,049 Coronavirus cases and 986 deaths in 24 hours, India's tally on Wednesday went past the 67-lakh-mark with a total of 67,57,131 cases. Out of these, 9,07,883 are currently active; 57,44,693 have been discharged, while 1,04,555 have lost the battle against the pandemic.

The recovery rate stands at 85.02 per cent and the fatality rate at 1.55 per cent, data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.