Clarity please on anti-covid overdrive
Is India needlessly hyperactive in its anti-Covid measures, like making it mandatory for international arrivals from pandemic hotspot nations to take the RT-PCR test? Eminent virologists are perplexed at the rapidity with which the country is raising its firewalls when the situation on the ground appears quite normal. To be clear, no one is against cranking up the Covid infrastructure across the country, but is blocking infected passengers from boarding flights necessary at present? As of now, the country has less than 3,500 active cases. Also, 92% of the target population has been fully vaccinated. In contrast, the caseload in China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, the UK and the US is substantial. The highest case count, of course, is in China, which runs into millions.
Experts claim India already has over 250 sub-variants of Omicron, so the detection of four BF.7 cases in India need not cause undue alarm though it is the sub-variant driving the surge in China. They also don’t think India would witness a fresh outbreak of severe Covid cases, as our population already has hybrid immunity due to good vaccination coverage and natural infection. China’s case is different because of its flawed zero-Covid policy, misdirected vaccination strategy and low vaccine efficiency. That said, since the Centre is scaling up its response and state governments are falling in line, it is reasonable to assume they have good reasons to do so. It is a given that Covid cases go up in winter. While being proactive is good, it would be useful if the government clarified doubts as it did in the past to persuade people to take their drive seriously.
As for the Centre’s sharp advisory to the Bharat Jodo Yatra, it appears to be a tit-for-tat for the Congress demanding a pause in the West Bengal polls last year and seeking an early end of the Haridwar Maha Kumbh mela when the second wave of the pandemic had started to climb. The situation in Bengal and Haridwar at that point in time was indeed worrisome as the daily case count in both places was in four figures. As against that, the seven-day national average of infections is now just around 160. Yet, the Modi government does not want to take chances as important state elections are due next year, which could set the tone for the 2024 general elections.