On guard, to keep waves at bay

Covid-19 cases have surged, but there's no rush to build stockpiles of vaccines

- SOHINI DAS

Just as life without masks and social distancing was increasingly becoming a new normal, Covid-19 has made a comeback. Even if the impact is not severe, doctors, health experts and hospital administrations have stepped up their act on the next steps.

The numbers explain why the situation is not alarming, but the sudden surge in patients infected with the Sars-CoV-2 virus is worrisome. India is adding 250-350 fresh Covid-19 cases daily. Compare this with the numbers in early May 2021, when infections were at their peak. India was reporting an average of around 400,000 daily cases and close to 5000 deaths, four summers ago.

The virus may have lost its 'bite', but is still highly transmissible, as experts point out.

Public health expert Anish TS, professor and nodal officer, Kerala One Health Centre for Nipah Research and Resilience, fears that climate change, and growing antimicrobial resistance may emerge as precipitating factors for the next pandemic. "More or less 60 per cent of epidemiologists agree that the next pandemic would not be Covid-19, but could be caused by a different virus, as Covid-19 is becoming endemic in the population," he says.

Medical professionals agree. Dr Rahul Pandit, chair, critical care, Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital, Mumbai, who has been at the forefront of Mumbai's fight against Covid-19, says it's highly unlikely that we will have another Covid-19 type pandemic that spreads across the globe, affecting thousands and thousands of people.