How To Deal With Mutations Of The Virus?
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2020-12-21 03:06:32
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
If the latest developments can be taken as evidence, the coronavirus scare is not likely to go away early in the New Year, as is widely expected. Experts believe that the rollout of the vaccine will mean that more than 50 percent of the world's population will be inoculated by the middle of next year, creating a critical mass of people with Covid anti-bodies that would prevent its spread.
But how will we deal with mutations of the virus? Already, Great Britain has reported that a mutant strain of Covid-19 has surfaced in the country and is spreading rapidly ("out of control" is the term used by the UK health ministry). The UK government has imposed a strict lockdown in the country from Sunday. Nations across the European Union and all over the world have started imposing travel restrictions to and from UK.
The health ministry in India has called a meeting of its joint monitoring group to discuss the developments. Although the UK health ministry has said that apart from the rapid spread, there is no evidence yet that the new strain is more dangerous, or kills more people or if the vaccines are ineffective against it. UK is expected to continue its vaccination programme as decided.
India, on the other hand, will have to first decide whether flights to and from the UK must be stopped and whether UK citizens or those who have visited the UK in the last 15 days should be allowed entry into India. This is of utmost importance to prevent the new strain of Covid 19 from entering the country. Then, it should wait and watch whether the vaccines being used in the UK are effective against this new strain before choosing the vaccine for India.
Although experts had earlier said that the vaccines will cover almost all mutations, that is hypothetical as one will never know the efficacy unless new strains crop up and the vaccines are tried on them. Hence, if the virus keeps mutating, it makes it very difficult to predict what will happen next. That is why experts have warned that people in India must not lower their guard about health protocols just because the numbers of people getting infected are falling. The worst is not over yet.
