Friday, 17 May, 2024
Perhaps the only saving grace is the fact that number of serious Covid patients who need oxygen and hospitalisation are quite low
Alarm bells are ringing once once again as the number of fresh Covid cases keeps rising day after day. According to data available with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the number of fresh daily cases now is as high as in January 2022 when India was invaded by a “mini” third wave of the pandemic caused by the so called Omicron variant. Things are not as bad the summer of 2021 when the second wave of the pandemic ravaged India and killed about 300,000 citizens if you go by government data. If you go by independent sources including C Voter, the actual number of deaths was at least six times higher than the official estimates. As the accompanying chart indicates, the number of daily cases has shot up from 4,000 on June 3 to almost 13,000 on June 20. As with the earlier waves, Mumbai, Delhi and Kerala are reporting the biggest jump in number of new cases on a daily basis.
On June 14, C Voter-India Tracker had conducted a nationwide survey where ordinary Indians were asked if they agreed with the contention that India was already facing the fourth wave of the Covid pandemic. About 62% of the respondents replied in the affirmative. According to medical experts and epidemiologists, the main reason for the relentless rise in the number of fresh Covid cases is Indians not adopting Covid appropriate behaviour. There have been widespread reports of even airline passengers not wearing a mask in crowded aircraft; so much so that the Director General of Civil Aviation had to issue a directive to airlines to throw unmasked passengers out of aircraft and put them in the “No Fly” blacklist.
Two out of three respondents during a C Voter-India Tracker survey on the issue had supported the seemingly harsh decision taken by the DGCA. Even now, one can see most people not wearing a mask in crowded markets, malls and restaurants which are back in full action now that all lockdown restrictions have been removed.
The first two waves were in a way inevitable as an overwhelming majority of Indians had received a vaccine dose to protect them from the dangerous virus. But now, an overwhelming majority has taken two doses of the vaccine while most are skipping the booster dose as they have become complacent. Data of new Covid cases shows that vaccine doses do not provide any guaranteed immunity against the Covid virus.
Perhaps the only saving grace is the fact that number of serious Covid patients who need oxygen and hospitalisation are quite low compared to the first two waves. The number of deaths is also low. But the virus is so unpredictable that it would be foolhardy for Indians to become totally complacent and ignore the deadly dangers by the virus should a new and malignant variant emerge. The only solution is for Indians to maintain Covid appropriate behaviour, including wearing masks in crowded places.
