'People above 18 years should be vaccinated in states witnessing Covid19 spike'

The former ICMR DG Prof (Dr) Nirmal Kumar Ganguly interacting with ETV Bharat senior reporter Gautam Debroy said that all people above 18 years of age should be vaccinated in places that are witnessing the spike and lockdown is not a viable option for India.

New Delhi:Against the backdrop of a sudden surge in Covid-19 cases in 11 states in India, Prof (Dr) Nirmal Kumar Ganguly, former director-general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) told ETV Bharat in an exclusive interview on Saturday that all people above 18 years of age should be vaccinated in places which are witnessing the spike and lockdown is not a viable option for India.

"We need to vaccinate all people above 18 years of age in places witnessing a surge. At the same time, we need to vaccinate schools teachers so that the schools can also be reopened. We need to vaccinate people involved in the travel and tourism business," said Dr Ganguly.

At present, the government is giving vaccination to health care workers, frontline workers and people above 45 years of age (with and without co-morbidities).

The former ICMR DG further said that lockdown can't be a solution for India.

"In many countries lockdown is happening. However, it's not a good option for India. We have already seen what happened due to lockdown. It majorly affects the poor people and daily wage labourers," said Dr Ganguly.

He said that it's time to see the situation in a smarter way.

"Central government is asking for local lockdowns but local administration are not willing. And lockdown seems to be an unlikely option," said Dr Ganguly.

Aware of the sudden spike in different places across India, the Union Home Ministry has suggested the state governments go for local lockdowns.

In a meeting chaired by cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba on Friday, the situation in 11 states including Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Haryana are found to be of serious concern.

Dr Ganguly said that the presence of mutants could also be a reason for the surge in Covid19 cases.

"In Maharashtra, we have a double mutant, which is more transmissible. Although we need more study to suggest that the huge spike is taking place due to mutants, it's for sure that these mutant-variants are contributing to the transmission of disease," said Dr Ganguly.

Asserting that the mutants are more transmissible and lethal, Dr Ganguly suggested strong epidemiology study as well as molecular surveillance.

"We are doing sequencing but we need to do with more expertise and at the same time we should increase the capacity," Dr Ganguly added.

When asked about the reasons for such a spike in Covid19 cases, Dr Ganguly said that non-adherence of Covid19 appropriate behaviour is another major reason for the sudden spike.

"Situation in India was plateau but when it was struck by a new wave of Covid19, the situation got worsened," he said.

Dr Ganguly said that the situation was similar in many European countries and the US. "In European countries, US, there was no end of Covid 19 but the situation was in the plateau. However, emerge of various mutants have worsened the situation," he said.

The former ICMR DG further said that the young population in India become asymptomatic which has become a major issue of concern.

"The asymptomatic people think that they will be cured with basic precautions. Whereas these asymptotic people infect other vulnerable populations," Dr Ganguly said.

Health Ministry statistics say that 81.42 per cent of new cases are reported from the states found to be of serious concern.

In the last 24 hours, Maharastra has reported the highest daily new cases of 47,913. Karnataka registered 4,991 cases followed by Chhattisgarh with 4,174 cases.

Ironically, 714 deaths were also reported in the last 24 hours with five states including Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh accounting for 86 per cent of such new deaths.