Rising numbers and concerns
On Friday India witnessed a record single-day rise of 2,17,353 new coronavirus infections as the active cases surpassed the 15-lakh mark. The death toll increased to 1,74,308 with 1,185 new fatalities, the highest since September 19, 2020.
It is for the 37th day in a row that a steady increase in the number of positive cases and even the fatalities has been registering a steady rise. What is more worrying is that the national COVID-19 recovery rate dropped also to 87.80 per cent.
The active caseload was at its lowest at 1,35,926 on February 12 and it was at its highest at 10,17,754 on September 18, 2020. However, all such figures are tumbling as India is proving to the worse hit nations as far as new infections are concerned.
India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.
Given the government’s lax attitude and the callousness of the people the fight against covid is proving to be a disaster. We were made to believe that the phenomenon will subside once the vaccine is made available and things will be in control. However, the statistics that are made available after every 24 hours make us realize that the assertions were not based on scientific evidence.
The surge in the number of cases across India is a pointer towards the hard failures that seem to have surfaced while dealing with the pandemic situation. If we take into account the figures that surfaced over the past two weeks, they paint a very horrendous picture.
One thing is quite clear that the infections contracted by the virus are still untreatable as no antivirals or any other drug, be it in solo form or combinations, is working against the virus.
This situation puts us on a sticky wicket as announcing lockdowns for too longer periods have been rather more detrimental than helping the case in any way. Therefore, the best possible solution is to work out a plan that will ensure that people live with the situation and do not end up turning paupers owing to the extended lockdowns and closure of all activities.
Fighting the pandemic demands a logical thinking, one that will help the people-rather than create problems for them. For this the administration should work out an out of the box solutions like categorizing business activities and depending on their importance and utility allow them functioning in rotation.
Besides, the measures that will keep the virus away from us need to be implemented. The police and the administration should be more proactive in ensuring social distancing, avoiding crowd and alerting the people to maintain distances and learn new methods while working or carrying out any other activity.
The novel coronavirus has been behaving quite unexpectedly and our measures to control it too have to be meticulous and well thought out. Any laxity will lead us to huge loss of lives, which of course cannot be afforded at any cost
KV Correspondent
