Life and death matter

 With India continuing to witness record breaking spikes in fresh Covid-19 positive cases in a single day for over two weeks, the situation is very grim. The odi government has to listen to the voices of experts and accept the reality. What Director of India’s premier medical institute- All India Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS Dr.Randeep Guleria has said needs to be taken very seriously. Dr.Guleria on May 1, strongly recommended another aggressive containment or lockdown was the only key as the second wave was way beyond what the country’s health care system could handle. He said not only India but even healthcare system in the world cannot manage the current and deadlier second wave of the coronavirus. Dr Guleria said that India had been caught off guard by the ferocity with which the virus was spreading, and that night curfews and weekend lockdowns imposed by various states such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana and other states have proved to be ineffectual. Dr Guleria also pointed out the fallacy in hoping for ‘herd immunity’, saying( with at least 40% recovered cases and 70% vaccinated) , “We have this feeling of ‘herd immunity’ without realising that if the virus changes that immunity is not of much use.” To achieve herd immunity through vaccination, there is a requirement of 200 crore doses in the country. Presently around 13 crore Indians have been vaccinated. However, there is acute vaccine shortage across India as majority of states have postponed jabs after the reduction of age to above 18 years of age. The vulnerability of the healthcare system in India has thoroughly exposed in the current coronavirus crisis when hospitals run out of oxygen and ICU beds and number of death is on the rise. Exactly a month ago, Dr Guleria had said that a “mini lockdown” is needed in the country to contain the rapid spread of the virus. However, no one in the top government hierarchy was willing to listen and instead were more focussed on assembly elections. Even as early as February this year, scientists reported the discovery of new Indian variant, which has two mutations in its spiky protein that it uses to stick to host cells. These variations can reportedly encourage faster and easier virus spread, and bypass the immune system. The government was totally inebriated by the ‘success’ it claimed over the first coronavirus wave. Instead, the government was more intent on winning state elections and so cleared announcement of poll schedules by the ECI. Scientists have also observed over a period of time that not only are they more contagious than during the previous stage, they are proving more dangerous too. The double-mutated virus is showing serious and unusual symptoms among non-vaccinated patients. Doctors do not deny the theory that every mutation makes the virus weaker and milder. But it has become more cunning, too.The highly respected medical journal Lancet had more alarming news. It reported a case study where the genome sequence of the coronavirus in the first infection and the re-infection differed significantly, suggesting that the fresh contamination was not from the same virus. In the second wave, the patient’s symptoms worsened, and required oxygen support and hospitalisation. Clearly, with healthcare system reduced to near-shambles and fresh cases still on upward spiral, the government of the day has to take a call.