International Journal of General Medicine and Pharmacy (IJGMP) ISSN (P): 2319–3999; ISSN (E): 2319–4006 Vol. 10, Issue 1, Jan-Jun 2021; 69–86 © IASET
INDIA’S COVID-19 CRISIS: CHALLENGES & STRATEGIES S. A. Tabish Professor, Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of medical Sciences, Srinagar, India
ABSTRACT Globally, the coronavirus has now infected 0ver 17 crore people and killed over 3.5 million since the pandemic broke out in December 2019. India is facing an “invisible enemy”. The pandemic first struck India over a year ago. Facing the world’s worst health crisis, India has reported over four lakh daily infections The Covid-19 pandemic is rapidly spreading in rural areas. Daily infections are shooting up in the Indian countryside in comparison to big towns, where they have slowed after last month's surge Governments should act on a “war footing” to check the second wave of infections and was setting up new hospitals and oxygen generating plants while augmenting supplies of medicines and vaccines. People are required to observe Covid Appropriate Behaviour (CAB). Moreover, states should take action against black-marketing of medicines and essential supplies.
KEYWORDS: Covid-19 Crisis
Article History Received: 24 May 2021 | Revised: 31 May 2021 | Accepted: 03 Jun 2021
INTRODUCTION Some seropositive surveys have been done, indicating that perhaps 20 % to 30 % of the overall population had been exposed. In large cities such as Mumbai and Delhi, in the areas that were surveyed, it appeared that 50 % to 60 % had been exposed. Decades of underinvestment in public health, with inadequate diagnostic capacity and programmatic agility, have created challenges in the implementation of test, trace, and treat strategies at scale.1 In mid-February, India’s daily caseload was at its lowest: fewer than 11,000 per day. But mutant viruses were already circulating at low levels before then. Sequencing data now tells us that the double-mutant variant (B.1.617) was already seen in December, but it was very minor and received little attention. The January introduction of the UK variant (B.1.1.7) into India led to the surge that started from about the third week of February. The variants are far more infectious and faster-moving than the original. This is a mutant virus that has 15 different changes from the original. Six mutations are in the spike protein, and two of those are in a very critical region called the “receptor-binding motif.” This is the region of the spike protein that allows the virus to enter the cell. It is also the region that is targeted by antibodies that neutralize the virus. Thus, any small changes in this region have the potential to increase the ability of the virus to enter cells and evade neutralizing antibodies. The World Health Organization recommends sequencing about 0.3 % of the confirmed cases, but India was much below that rate. By December 2020, India was only sequencing approximately 0.05 %. But with the establishment of this sequencing consortium of ten labs, the rate has risen to about 1 % since February 2021. www.iaset.us
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