The real good news is finally in – which is that the Union Health Ministry has confidently proclaimed on Thursday that the Covid-19 pandemic is now firmly “under control” in the country. The rise in infection rates has been curbed for the past one week and the Covid graph is spectacularly on the downward slide for a month or so. Some 146 of the 718 districts have reported no new cases for a week and 18 districts for two weeks.
This has happened even as the vaccination programme is yet to reach out to the masses. The jabs so far were limited to frontline Covid warriors in the form of healthcare staff and security personnel, numbering over 2.4 million in all. Even then, Covid-19 seems ready to pack its bag and go its way. This positive turn happens from a high of India being the world’s second most-affected nation. India has so far reported nearly 11 million infections and over 1.50 lakh deaths linked to the pandemic.
Anti-body tests showed that some 50 per cent of the population were already infected and thus acquired natural immunity. This is also a significant aspect, seen against the WHO ruling that immunity for 60 per cent of the population will help break the chain of virus transmission.
Importantly, the new UK strain of Covid-19 too failed to spread in India so far, due mainly to strict controls effected at airports and other entry points. While weeks have passed since the first such case was detected here, the number of the infected stands at around 165 now, who were isolated and provided with quarantine. Most states are now reporting daily Covid positive figures at the May-June level. Worst-hit Maharashtra too has reined in the virus spread and begun reporting lower figures of daily infections and deaths in recent weeks.
Some 70 per cent of the present daily cases of Covid infections are coming from just two states – Maharashtra and Kerala – the total of daily infections across states being of the order of some 12,000, of which nearly half the number were from Kerala alone. This too means that a sense of normalcy can be expected soon, a confidence boosted by the start of the vaccination drive. India has readied itself to vaccinate some 30 crore people by the middle of this year. All these go to stress the point that the worst is over and we can now look forward to a revival of normal activities across the globe sooner than later.