August 10, 2026

No Time For Complacency

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2020-10-21 11:52:40

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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

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Prime Minister Modi addressed the nation on the 20^th of October ahead of the festival season to warn the countrymen against lowering their guard against the coronavirus pandemic. His plea could not have come at a better time. With Indians showing signs of complacency as reports coming in from across the country talk of people ignoring health advisories and coming out in public without masks, crowding popular places and wholesale markets, it was needed that the Prime Minister speak once again to usher in a renewed sense of responsibility among the citizens.

Although experts have said that India witnessed the Covid peak in September and is likely to get the measure of the virus by February, there are other studies, happenings and processes that point to the fact that the fight is neither going to be easy nor is it going to last only till February. First of all, experts point out that since India is a vast country, it would be wrong to say that the peak was reached in September. There are many regions where the virus is yet to reach the peak and with unlock happening at a fast pace, people travelling from these regions to other parts of India can yet cause a massive spike in new cases in the near future.

Then, with Europe experiencing a second wave and the USA the third wave, saying that the virus has been controlled after the first peak is erroneous. There have also been reports of people getting infected a second time. Further, several mutated versions of the original virus have been discovered all over the world, creating confusion whether the vaccines being developed will be effective in protecting the people. Although there is no doubt that the new normal means we have to live with the virus, taking precautions and following health advisories is the minimum the citizens can do to support the government in its fight against the virus.

The government has ramped up testing and the numbers are all in the comfort zone, especially for a hugely and densely populated country like India. Fresh cases are going down (except for a few districts), recovery rate is high and mortality is low. But these figures should not induce a sense of complacency as the fight is far from over. We have to be continuously vigilant and be on our guard as a second wave can strike at any time. This is what the Prime Minister tried to tell the people in his own inimitable style. One hopes that the people will celebrate the festivals with a sense of responsibility.