As COVID-19 cases rise again, we must be on guard lest the virus cripples our health & economy
With the cases of COVID-19 registering an upward swing again, India has added 17,070 new Coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,34,69,234 while the active cases increased to 1,07,189 on Friday, according to the Union Health Ministry. Meanwhile, the death toll climbed to 5,25,139 with 23 new fatalities. Active cases in the country also crossed the one lakh-mark on Thursday after a gap of 122 days while India recorded over 18,000 cases after a gap of 130 days. The cases have increased by 78 per cent from the average two weeks ago and deaths, too, have gone up by 119 per cent. The country’s current surge in COVID-19 cases is because of the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron — which drove the third wave in January, along with BA.1 — and another sub-variant that has branched off from it, called BA.2.38. Earlier this week, Delhi reported its first couple of cases of the BA.5 sub-variant of Omicron — this was one of the sub-variants that led to an increase in cases in South Africa a couple of months ago. The first BA.5 case in India was reported in late May in Telangana.
Cases of such sub-variants that are driving surges at many places globally are on the rise in India as well, but these currently account for only a small percentage of cases. Importantly, experts believe that there is no clinical significance of this change. In the light of this development, however, the World Health Organisation on Friday called on countries in South-East Asia to accelerate COVID-19 vaccination coverage as the region is again witnessing a rise in the number of cases. While significant progress has been made in the region towards vaccinating populations against COVID-19, several countries missed the global target to fully vaccinate 70 per cent of their total population with all primary doses of the vaccine by June end. “We must focus on rapidly achieving high vaccination coverage prioritising health workers, older adults, those with underlying health conditions and pregnant women. The pandemic is not over yet, we must scale up our efforts to protect communities,” a senior WHO official has said. We in India must also stay alert to the lingering threat of the virus and not start taking things for granted — we must stick to observing personal hygiene and COVID-appropriate behaviour.