Time for a decisive fight against COVID-19

The government is of the opinion that this year, the pandemic will cross the peak stage witnessed last year. It is of the opinion that neglect of the Corona guidelines, elections, huge gatherings at marriages and other functions are the factors responsible for the current upsurge.

Hyderabad: The World Health Organization has raised alarm bells over the unrelenting surge of COVID-19 cases in the last seven weeks and the rising number of casualties since four weeks.

Cases of COVID-19 are on the rise, especially in Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala among other states.

On March 1, 2021, the country recorded 15,500 cases. Today, the number of cases has increased by 12 times. Maharashtra and Raipur witnessed scenes where eight bodies were cremated on a single funeral pyre. Dead bodies are piling up at the government hospitals in Chattisgarh.

This is the price India is paying for neglecting COVID-19. The Centre is of the opinion that this year, the pandemic will cross the peak stage witnessed last year. It is of the opinion that neglect of the Corona guidelines, elections, huge gatherings at marriages and other functions are the factors responsible for the current upsurge.

The question, however, is what happened to the Covid protocol followed during last year’s Assembly elections? The Kumbh Mela began on the note that devotion towards God will drive away Corona. Such huge gatherings as in the Kumbh Mela are prone to add to the Covid virulence. Even before the vaccine reached people in the country, governments developed a negligent attitude fueled by the contentment that the vaccine had arrived.

Experts are of the opinion that along with the negligence of the citizens, the viral mutations, too, have contributed to the worsening of the situation. Just as it had happened during the same period last year, shortage of beds, medicines and oxygen are haunting the country.

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The Centre has approved the emergency utilization of Sputnik V and other foreign vaccines. It is time for the government to launch a multi-lateral fight against Covid by coordinating with the pharma industry while taking measures to prevent the collapse of the health services sector.

India is considered the Vaccine Capital of the World. In such a country, only 0.7 per cent population has taken both doses of Corona vaccine till date. Only 6 per cent of the population has taken one dose of the vaccine.

Experts are saying that the struggle against Covid cannot proceed without administering at least 50 lakh doses of vaccine a day. It is abundantly clear that the failure to remove the fears and the apprehensions from the minds of the people, and the failure to provide an adequate quantity of vaccine to the states are the reasons behind the slow progress of the struggle against the pandemic.

It is for the governments to propagate the fact that vaccination makes the human body ready for the fight against Corona and it helps avoid the threat to life. Indigenous vaccine manufacturers have already made an appeal to the Centre to extend financial assistance for large scale production of vaccine.

In its budget, the Centre has allocated Rs 35,000 crore to provide financial assistance to the domestic companies involved in vaccine research and development under the Mission Covid Suraksha scheme. The government should, however, briskly move to vaccinate the entire population.

Apart from keeping in check the price of vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, it should also keep in mind the health controversy raised in the US by Johnson and Johnson.

The Centre, which is approaching steel plants and oil refineries for oxygen stocks as part of the fight against Covid, should also take abundant measures to prevent hoarding of Corona medicines, like the Remdesivir.

If we are to emerge victorious in this fight with the least number of deaths, citizens and the governments need to jointly strive hard without giving scope to laxity and irresponsibility.