India has achieved yet another milestone in vaccination when it exceeded 200.33 crores as per provisional reports from across the country on July 19 morning. However, this alone should not be a matter of complacency either on part of the government or the people of this country, since the newest Omicron variant BA.2.75 first found in early June in India is spreading fast within the country and also across the world. It has now been found in 15 countries making the World Health Organisation (WHO) put it on the watch list, saying that the Covid-19 threat is not yet over. The weekly positivity rate is presently at 4.57 percent in the country, while there were around 16,000 new cases. The cause of concern is that cases continued to inch up in the country for the 8th week running, from around mid-May. The weekly total was around 1.3 percent, up over 6 percent from the previous week. It was the longest sustained rise in weekly cases since the second wave in 2021. Deaths from the virus at the present rate of rising are likely to 18 percent up from the preceding week. Cases are rising in 27 states. Some experts believe it to be an early sign of the fourth wave if the business-as-usual approach continues while others emphasize it not be an alarming condition.
Even so, since India has suffered three Covid-19 waves and has lost about 48 lakh lives according to the new WHO data that was almost ten times the official data of the country, we should beware of the fourth wave. The statement of the chairman of the Covid Working Group NK Arora should not bring us complacency over the milestone achieved, since the new variants, the present or of the future, tend to be potentially powerful evading the immunity created either by natural infection or vaccination. So far about 150 cases are due to the newly emerged BA.2.75 Omicron variant, Arora said, which shows a lack of alertness on the part of the government towards the threats Indians are facing on account of the pandemic. Though he defended his view by saying, “There are reclassification issues, and hence the correct number is yet to be ascertained. The bottom line is that vaccines have worked against these sub-lineages and, so far, no increase in deaths or hospitalization has been seen.”
WHO-DG’s remark must be taken note of since he said that reported cases of Covid-19 have increased nearly by 30 percent over the past two weeks. Four out of six of the WHO subregions saw cases increase in the last week. In Europe and America, BA.4 and BA.5 are driving waves. Arora has said that the government aims to target everyone eligible to get a precautionary dose. First, testing has been reduced dramatically in many countries. This obscures the true picture of an evolving virus and the real burden of Covid-19 disease globally. It means that treatments are not given early enough to prevent serious illness and death. Second, new treatments, especially promising new oral antivirus, are still not reaching low- and low-middle income countries, depriving whole populations that need them. Third, as the virus evolves, vaccine protections – while still really effective at preventing serious disease and death – do wane. Decreasing immunity underscores the importance of boosters, especially for the most at-risk. Fourth, each wave of the virus leaves more people with a post-Covid condition, often referred to as long-Covid. Health systems are strained, and economies and societies are being disrupted.
