India At The Top, But Nothing To Be Proud About
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-04-04 03:39:43
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
India is once again on the top of the world but sadly, it is nothing to be proud about. With nearly 89000 fresh Covid cases on Friday and over 93000 cases on Saturday, India had overtaken Brazil and the US to top the countries reporting the highest numbers of new Covid cases. It shows how fast the cases are spreading in India that in just about a week's time, India leapfrogged to the first position. Death toll is rising alarmingly too and crossed 500 for the first time since October last year.
The second wave surge, which is more rapid than the first wave, shows that while we did certain things right that time, we are not doing most things well this time around. Apart from the lockdown - which in any case is not a recurrent solution - the only thing missing is the strictness and the rigid following of the health protocol prescribed for the Covid situation.
After the country started the unlock process and the Prime Minister kept on advising people to be vigilant, most Covid protocols, except perhaps social or physical distancing, were followed diligently at most public places. People were screened for body temperature and asked to sanitize their hands though foot-operated or automatic dispensers placed at entrances and other strategic location in office buildings, malls and other similar places where people went for work or leisure. Buildings were also sanitized periodically.
But as is the habit in India, this continued for a month or so and as cases started going down, there was laxity all around. Despite warnings from the government that the virus had not gone away, digital thermometers were done away with and dispensers were not refilled. There was no one to screen people at many places. This unrestricted entry and the crowded public transport where people rubbed shoulders with each other often without masks, coupled with lower testing and a total absence of contract tracing gave the virus and opportunity to make a comeback. It has done to with a vengeance.
Although the Centre and the states have woken up to the danger, one feels that they have delayed their response by more than a month. If we had started applying the Covid health protocol strictly from February, when the cases first started jumping, by penalizing people for not wearing masks or office buildings, markets and malls for not screening visitors, we could have reduced the spread. We could have also ramped up testing facilities and indulged in contract tracing and isolation religiously. Finally, we should have carried out vaccination at war footing from February.
One feels that daily fresh cases in this second wave are likely to surpass those in the first wave simply because in the absence of restrictions, there is more interaction between people now. The only way to prevent the spread is to start testing, contract tracing and isolation with renewed urgency and in far greater numbers than is being done now. Administrations all over India need to be extremely strict with people who do not wear masks or follow other Covid protocols. Vaccination must be speeded up to cover at least 6 to 7 crore people, if not more, every month, with targeted vaccination in specific regions being a priority.
