When two dozen Omicron variants, though not as destructive as Delta, continue to prey on millions of people across the globe, rendering them fatigued and temporarily unfit for employment, it’s irrational to write off the pandemic. No wonder the assertion by US President Joe Biden that the Covid-19 pandemic in the US is over has sparked a debate. The statement may have brought smiles to several unmasked faces in the US and elsewhere who cite the abolition of Covid-19 protocols and restrictions and rebound of travel to pre-pandemic levels as clear testimonies.
Interestingly, Biden’s off-the-cuff comment came just a few weeks after his administration sought to spend over $1.6 billion to support Covid-19 testing and vaccination programmes to help vulnerable communities. It plainly illustrates how recklessly an advanced country that accounted for over a million dead in the past two years treats the pandemic.
Developing countries are still struggling to come to terms with the ill effects of the pandemic, with only one-third of the healthcare workers and older populations fully vaccinated and boosted, according to the UN. Efforts are still on to reach vaccines to needy people while addressing the issues with vaccine hesitancy and other misinformation related to immunisation, which the UN Secretary-General recently termed the shadow pandemic.
He has raised concerns over falling testing rates, exposing the world to potential variants and undermining the rollout of new treatments. India has done a fabulous job in spreading the awareness and importance of vaccination and booster shots and quickly attempted to close the vaccination gap, especially among the high-risk categories. India’s Covid-19 tally crossed the four-crore mark on January 25 this year. Since then, new daily cases have dropped steadily to around 5,000 a day, while the total recovery rate has reached 98.72 per cent, according to the latest Health Ministry data.
The steep decline in fresh cases has nudged us to drop our first line of defence against the virus: the mask. The reality is that Covid viruses are still lurking around, and we can’t afford to ignore masks in crowded public places like malls, markets and theatres. There is a need to increase surveillance, testing and sequencing as suggested by WHO. We must invest in healthcare infrastructure, early warning systems, local manufacturing and diagnostic capabilities to prevent future threats.