It is very disturbing to hear that all the three corona variants of the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil are present in India and mutations of the novel coronavirus are raising their ugly heads in India. It is a great concern for all the people. Mumbai is the most affected city with a new upsurge in Covid cases. One of the reasons for escalating corona cases may be due to relaxation of local train restrictions. If the surge in cases continues, there are chances of Mumbai again going into lockdown. It can even spread to other cities also, there by hitting India’s economy once again. People coming from Maharashtra and Kerala, who are accounting for 75 percent of daily new infections, to other states must be insisted upon with RC-PCR tests and sufficient quarantine periods. The same rule must be applied again to all foreign arrivals. For this there should be no laxity in fighting against Covid virus.
Covid restricting norms, such as social distancing, wearing of masks, went for a toss in the recently concluded Chennai cricket test match, where spectators have been given permission to witness the matches for the first time after a very long gap. Complacency is a more dreaded disease than Carona itself. Complacency on part of people and governments can undo months of progress and sacrifices made in the fight against the virus. So the need of the hour is to step up vaccination drive by bursting the myth of vaccine hesitancy. Widespread awareness to be imparted among the public regarding vaccination drive. People on their part must be ready to come forward voluntarily to undergo vaccine jabs as per priority drive announced by the government of India. It should be seen that the infection activity does not outpace the vaccination drive. There are still some glitches in Co-WIN application during the second dosing of vaccination that have to be sorted out immediately. Then only it will be a Win- Win situation for both public and government.
There are chances of new mutations making vaccines less effective and can trigger re-infections. People are very much eager to know how the two vaccines – Covaxine & Cowin, will confront the new mutations and their research recordings should be made available to the public as early as possible. States should enforce again certain limits on all sorts of gatherings, processions and family functions. Until pandemic turns into endemic completely, people have to depend on face masks – the poor man’s oxygen cylinders, Social distancing norms (and no more large gatherings) and Hand hygiene (and no hand shake). Any rise of the second wave of corona cases should be arrested strictly in the beginning stage itself as a stitch in time definitely saves nine.
People and our country’s economy are in no mood to enter into another lockdown and in the process face another jolt – loss of lives and livelihoods, that can take our country’s growth to a few decades back. We all shouldn’t forget that the crisis for humanity still persists, and it can be overcome only with lots of patience and practising adequate health care standards.
V. Nagendra Kumar is HVAC Engineer