The Golden 100 Days

India prepares battle blueprint for the next pandemic

- RICHARD MAHAPATRA

THE NOVEL coronavirus or sars-cov-2, that caused the covid-19 pandemic, continues to wreak havoc across countries even five years after it first struck the world. It remains a pandemic even though the World Health Organization (who) in May 2023 declared an end to covid-19 as a public health emergency. So far, the virus has infected 700 million people and killed 7 million (more than half-a-million have died in India alone); in September, over 80,000 covid-19 cases were reported every week from across the globe.

While the world appears to have reconciled to the idea of living with the virus, the spectre of another pandemic with a deadlier leash looms large. who has released a list of 30 viral and bacterial families, which can potentially cause epidemics and pandemics in the future. The world is shifting to a global regime of preparedness and effective responses to any such future pandemics or health emergencies. This May, countries at the 77th World Health Assembly (wha) agreed to the “Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response Accord”, also called the Pandemic Treaty. It may be adopted at the next wha, which would take place in 2025.

In September, India took a step towards preparing for the future pandemics or public health emergencies of high magnitude, as an expert group set up by the government think-tank niti Aayog released the “Future Pandemic Preparedness and Emergency Response—a Framework for Action”. The terms of reference for the expert group were to “draw lessons and experiences, both national and global, on how covid was managed and visualise preparedness elements and future pathways for fighting any infectious public health crisis”.