With capital Delhi brought under a weekend-curfew for two days, the nation is stressed again and back to square one – almost. The cases of Covid infections are rising at an alarming rate, with Mumbai and Delhi being among the worst cases and over 10 states experiencing a scary rise in the infection rate over the past one week. The Maha Kumbh Mela has been abandoned midway through its progress as many including over 200 Sadhus have been infected due to the Covid impact there.
The Centre is seized of the matter as is evident from the high-level meeting Prime Minister Modi has held with officials on Saturday preceded by a meeting with state representatives by Health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan. The PM meanwhile came under attack from the Congress, which took a grim view of the obsessive electioneering he is being busy with in West Bengal at such a critical time for the people’s health.
Problems are at multiple levels. On one side, there is a shortage of vaccines in various states. The largely Covid-hit states have raised an alarm over this and sought more stocks from the Centre on an urgent basis. The Congress party has reiterated the demand to stop the vaccine supply from India to other countries.
Another matter of serious concern is the shortage of oxygen distributed via cylinders and the government is promising to raise the production on an emergency basis. Also in short-supply is the Remdesivir drug, the mass production of which depends also on dispatch of the raw material from China. An unexpected situation has arisen and every response cannot be possible with clockwork precision. But, maximum alert is called for on the part of the governments.
The finding by a global research team that Covid-19 can spread via air too, as is reported in The Lancet medical journal, turns upside down the earlier concepts as to how the virus spreads. This means social distancing or wearing of masks alone will not help. Rooms or halls where people sit, wait or work together can be risky.
Clearly, we have not properly understood the nature of this Chinese-induced virus yet, which surfaced all of a sudden a year ago and put the entire globe on the defensive. There are cases of people taking the jabs and yet getting infected. The success rate of vaccines is claimed to be above 75 per cent, but even this needs to be proven. There is no last word yet on its long-term side-effects, if any. Yet, for now, vaccination is the only way forward.