November 21, 2024

The Virus Has Not Gone Away

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-08-02 03:06:06

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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

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The way Covid cases are on the rise almost everywhere in the world, including India, are a cause for worry and a definite pointer that things will not return to normal, at least not in the immediate future. Brazil, Indonesia, China, US, parts of Europe and the Middle-East are all witnessing a renewed surge due to the Delta variant. This variant is now said to be so infectious that it can spread easily like chicken pox. This means that all those countries that had started relaxing Covid norms like mask wearing are once again enforcing them. It also means that the new normal – that of wearing masks in public places and avoiding crowds - is going to stay with us for a while.

India’s case is also critical. The vaccination drive is not picking up mainly because supply is short. Although the sero survey has said that almost 66% Indians have Covid antibodies, more importantly 33% do not and this is a huge number which, if infected, can start the third wave in no time. Further, it is not known how many more mutations of the virus we will have to face. Since it is not clear if the vaccines currently available will effectively counter any variants that come up in the future, even people who are fully vaccinated will have to be on guard and cannot afford to relax.

Vaccination still remains the best defence against the virus. Hence, the government will have to procure the vaccines at a faster pace. If supplies improve, India has the ability and the infrastructure to vaccinate nearly 1 crore persons daily to achieve its target of fully vaccinating the adult population by December this year. That, along with strict enforcement of Covid norms across the country and micro containment strategy in areas that are showing a surge, must be the priority now.