A “Self Inflicted National Catastrophe”: The Second Wave of Covid-19 in India
By Dhanviee Misra, 7/20/2021
A “self-inflicted national catastrophe,” as stated by the medical journal Lancet, perhaps most accurately describes India’s second spike in Covid-19 cases, which began in late March. Following the international praise the Indian government received for their handling of the first wave of the virus, its response to the second wave fell far short. There was an abrupt commencement of social life and few precautions were enforced once the cases started to lessen after the first wave while warnings by experts were routinely disregarded.
Lockdown and vaccination administration was a responsibility largely handed over to the states, however, the states lacked the necessary resources and infrastructure to handle this extensive crisis. The states with the highest number of active cases: Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh faced shortages of hospital beds, healthcare workers and ambulances; limited oxygen availability; and negligence by citizens. Lockdown was imposed on very short notice, with which came the fear of losing income and being unable to provide for their families, startling the citizens who had begun to socialise again. Social distancing is also a challenge as 40% of homes in India have single rooms, with an average Indian family having five members. The majority of the Indian population resides in rural areas where people live as communities and share public amenities such as water sources, farms and fields, making social distancing impossible. There have been various meetings by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the central and state governments, but little groundwork was actually laid for the states. Transportation facilities have been strained, delaying oxygen from industrial locations to hospitals, which has been the biggest cause of deaths.
All hospitals have been congested, making it difficult for people to find a bed or even get vaccinated. The first phase of vaccination was limited for healthcare and frontline workers. Subsequently, the second phase, which is currently in function, was initially open to citizens aged 45 and above, and from May 1st was accessible to citizens aged 18 and above. Numerous experts and citizens are against paying for vaccines in times of widespread financial strain. Additionally, many have faced issues with the CO-WIN portal, where people can schedule vaccine appointments. The majority of vaccinated citizens have had one dose out of the 150 million regulated vaccinations. Considering India’s population, it needs hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccine. Concurrently, the national average vaccine wastage was 6.5% when the minimum required wastage rate was below 1%. This wastage was caused mainly by opened vials as people were hesitant to get vaccinated at the outset of the inoculation drive due to misinformation. There was also an onset of various mutations and variants of the Covid-19 virus such as the B.1.617 and B.1.618 along with a considerable number of cases of black fungus. Due to this appalling state, board examinations, which are the public examinations conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education or the respective State Boards at the end of 10th and 12th grade, were cancelled on April 14 and June 1 respectively.
The Central Government is working on increasing the efficiency of vaccination drives by introducing a vaccine tracker platform and reinventing its inoculation strategy to avoid vaccine wastage and immunize the entire population by the end of 2021, as it claimed to the Supreme Court. India is also manufacturing and exporting vaccines internationally, for instance, the Serum Institute is exporting the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine. The Indian Government sanctioned the establishment of 551 new oxygen generators countrywide. To tackle the issue of oxygen transportation, special oxygen-carrying trains and military aircraft were sent to cities in need. Various resources such as helpline numbers, emails and websites such as MyGov and Self4Society have been set up which provide state-wise statistics and information about the availability of vital resources such as medicines, hospital beds, oxygen and plasma therapy respectively. Since the peak of the second wave on May 7 with more than 414,000 daily cases, there has been a daily decrease in cases nationally as the recovery rate is over 96% along with a positivity rate of 3.24%. Nation-wide lockdown measures are continuing but restrictions have been eased.
Many countries have stepped forward to help India battle the situation. The United States announced its help in late April as President Joe Biden tweeted, “India was there for us, and we will be there for them”. It sent raw materials needed to produce vaccines such as Covishield which are made in India and also aided by funding the main vaccine manufacturer in India, BioE, to produce about a billion doses by 2022. It also sent resources such as rapid-test kits and therapeutics. If approved, it will also consider sending the stock of AstraZeneca, whose export to other countries has been urged by doctors as it is abundantly present in The United States. Similarly, European countries including the United Kingdom and France sent resources such as oxygen concentrators, ventilators and respirators.
A global health research centre at the University of Washington, The Institute of Health Metrics, gauged that one million people could die in India by August because of Covid-19, thus it is essential to evaluate and devise better strategies for the future. Governments must take responsibility for their actions because the lack of accountability by Indian officials has created the absence of a national strategy. Moreover, private hospital charges must be investigated as many have exploited already distraught families. There must also be a proper record of medical resources for streamlined delivery to places in need.
An analysis by IIT Kanpur states that the third wave of Covid-19 is expected from September to October of this year. Only time will tell if India will improve their response on the national and state levels or repeat past mistakes. Hence, it is a crucial time to recognise and work towards not repeating India’s second wave of Covid-19.
Lockdown and vaccination administration was a responsibility largely handed over to the states, however, the states lacked the necessary resources and infrastructure to handle this extensive crisis. The states with the highest number of active cases: Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh faced shortages of hospital beds, healthcare workers and ambulances; limited oxygen availability; and negligence by citizens. Lockdown was imposed on very short notice, with which came the fear of losing income and being unable to provide for their families, startling the citizens who had begun to socialise again. Social distancing is also a challenge as 40% of homes in India have single rooms, with an average Indian family having five members. The majority of the Indian population resides in rural areas where people live as communities and share public amenities such as water sources, farms and fields, making social distancing impossible. There have been various meetings by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the central and state governments, but little groundwork was actually laid for the states. Transportation facilities have been strained, delaying oxygen from industrial locations to hospitals, which has been the biggest cause of deaths.
All hospitals have been congested, making it difficult for people to find a bed or even get vaccinated. The first phase of vaccination was limited for healthcare and frontline workers. Subsequently, the second phase, which is currently in function, was initially open to citizens aged 45 and above, and from May 1st was accessible to citizens aged 18 and above. Numerous experts and citizens are against paying for vaccines in times of widespread financial strain. Additionally, many have faced issues with the CO-WIN portal, where people can schedule vaccine appointments. The majority of vaccinated citizens have had one dose out of the 150 million regulated vaccinations. Considering India’s population, it needs hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccine. Concurrently, the national average vaccine wastage was 6.5% when the minimum required wastage rate was below 1%. This wastage was caused mainly by opened vials as people were hesitant to get vaccinated at the outset of the inoculation drive due to misinformation. There was also an onset of various mutations and variants of the Covid-19 virus such as the B.1.617 and B.1.618 along with a considerable number of cases of black fungus. Due to this appalling state, board examinations, which are the public examinations conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education or the respective State Boards at the end of 10th and 12th grade, were cancelled on April 14 and June 1 respectively.
The Central Government is working on increasing the efficiency of vaccination drives by introducing a vaccine tracker platform and reinventing its inoculation strategy to avoid vaccine wastage and immunize the entire population by the end of 2021, as it claimed to the Supreme Court. India is also manufacturing and exporting vaccines internationally, for instance, the Serum Institute is exporting the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine. The Indian Government sanctioned the establishment of 551 new oxygen generators countrywide. To tackle the issue of oxygen transportation, special oxygen-carrying trains and military aircraft were sent to cities in need. Various resources such as helpline numbers, emails and websites such as MyGov and Self4Society have been set up which provide state-wise statistics and information about the availability of vital resources such as medicines, hospital beds, oxygen and plasma therapy respectively. Since the peak of the second wave on May 7 with more than 414,000 daily cases, there has been a daily decrease in cases nationally as the recovery rate is over 96% along with a positivity rate of 3.24%. Nation-wide lockdown measures are continuing but restrictions have been eased.
Many countries have stepped forward to help India battle the situation. The United States announced its help in late April as President Joe Biden tweeted, “India was there for us, and we will be there for them”. It sent raw materials needed to produce vaccines such as Covishield which are made in India and also aided by funding the main vaccine manufacturer in India, BioE, to produce about a billion doses by 2022. It also sent resources such as rapid-test kits and therapeutics. If approved, it will also consider sending the stock of AstraZeneca, whose export to other countries has been urged by doctors as it is abundantly present in The United States. Similarly, European countries including the United Kingdom and France sent resources such as oxygen concentrators, ventilators and respirators.
A global health research centre at the University of Washington, The Institute of Health Metrics, gauged that one million people could die in India by August because of Covid-19, thus it is essential to evaluate and devise better strategies for the future. Governments must take responsibility for their actions because the lack of accountability by Indian officials has created the absence of a national strategy. Moreover, private hospital charges must be investigated as many have exploited already distraught families. There must also be a proper record of medical resources for streamlined delivery to places in need.
An analysis by IIT Kanpur states that the third wave of Covid-19 is expected from September to October of this year. Only time will tell if India will improve their response on the national and state levels or repeat past mistakes. Hence, it is a crucial time to recognise and work towards not repeating India’s second wave of Covid-19.
