Tackling a resurgent Corona

The second wave of corona is upon us, and how! It has caught us napping, less cautious and careless. The impact can be devastating, on both fronts of the economy and medical infrastructure. There isn’t much the government can do, besides creating healthcare infrastructure and supporting the generation and accessibility of vaccines. It is all up to us as to how we choose to fight the second invasion

India is in the midst of the second wave of corona. The number of new cases is increasing every day. This number is breaking the record of the first wave last year. The second wave had visited Europe, the US, Brazil, Mexico and many other countries, but we thought that this evil would not come to us again. The government of India had, however, not ruled out this possibility. Advisories were regularly issued to maintain the corona protocols of keeping social distancing and using masks while moving out of the house.

WE WERE NEGLIGENT

We took the advisories lightly and became even more negligent, with the arrival of the vaccines. We were confident that when even without vaccines we could defeat corona last year, corona dare not visit us again now that we had the vaccines. The adversary has dared to visit us again and we have to get ready to fight again both on medical and economic fronts.

EFFECT ON THE ECONOMY

We have witnessed the catastrophe on the economic front last year due to corona. Our GDP had a record contraction of 23.9% in the first quarter and it was only in the third quarter that the contraction got reversed. There were job losses across the country. Poor daily wagers were the worst sufferers due to the lockdowns, which were required to fight corona.

The country was hopeful about reviving the economy in the current financial year with a double-digit GDP growth. Even the IMF and the World Bank had given growth forecasts of double digits for India in FY 2021-22.

The Budget 2021 went far, defying fiscal prudence, with increased expenditure on infrastructure to boost the GDP and to get the economy back on track. For the current year, the fiscal deficit is at 6.8% of the GDP so as to boost the economy in the short run. The government will have to resort to borrowing Rs.12 lakh crore for the increased expenditure in the current year. With the sudden revisit of corona at the very start of the current year, the projections and statistics of the government may go for a toss. We may fail to collect the projected tax due to corona, and if that happens, then our fiscal deficit will get widened with related serious implications.

MEDICAL CHALLENGE

On the medical front, the second inning of corona will have the tragic effect of loss of lives. Our medical infrastructure, which is not very robust, is already under serious strain, due to the increasing number of infections. The vaccine supply is running short. There was a time when vaccine claimants were less and we were helping other countries with our vaccines, but today with the frightening surge of corona, the situation has reversed. We are once again running short of oxygen and ventilators. The worst, our medical warriors, who have already taken double doses of vaccine are getting infected in large numbers. Our premier hospitals are no exception.

VACCINES DO NOT COME FREE

Vaccines do not come free, as the government has to buy them at approximately Rs.200 per dose and then give it free to the people in government hospitals. The government had made a provision of Rs.35,000 crores in the Budget of 2021 for the vaccine but it is now felt that the expenditure on the vaccine will be much more as supply has to be increased, even by importing.

How do we treat this unwelcome evil guest that has appeared again? No scientist so far knows much about it. Nobody knows how it appeared in the first instance. People only know so far that it was born in China but still the doubt persists about how it was born, even after WHO scientists visited China to investigate. In such a scenario, there is an unpredictability about corona.

Vaccines give strength to our immune system and they may help in reducing the mortality rate, but as we are seeing today, vaccines are not totally stopping the infection. Corona keeps on changing as new mutants keep on emerging. The second inning of corona has been spiked by the mutants, like the South African mutant, Brazil mutant and now even the Indian mutant.

"Our medical infrastructure, which is not very robust, is already under serious strain, due to the increasing number of infections. The vaccine supply is running short. We are once again running short of oxygen and ventilator"

NO ENTRY

The only solution that has been unanimously accepted as of today, is to stop the virus from entering our body. This is possible to some extent by the use of masks and social distancing. It is like we have to keep the main gate of our house closed if we want to stop an unwelcome guest from entering our house. The virus enters our body through our nose and mouth and hence masking is the best option. We have also to rely on additional supports like vaccines, but vaccines alone may not be the sole remedy.

The second inning of corona came as we were corona-fatigued due to putting restrictions on ourselves for almost the whole of last year, and we let ourselves loose when corona infection reduced. We started enjoying ourselves getting freedom from the self-imposed prison. We almost forgot corona and our masks, and then the rejuvenated corona came to attack us. We have to keep remembering this till the very existence of corona is fully neutralised.

UNHEALTHY LIFESTYLE

Diseases normally come when we do not live a healthy life. We devote much of our time making our careers and earning money. Our modern lifestyle takes us away from living in harmony with nature. We do not get time to enjoy the company of the blue sky, the moon and the stars. It is commonly said that in early life, we earn money and in later life, we spend our money on medicines and doctors. Corona has hit the hardest, especially those who have had lifestyle diseases like diabetes, blood pressure and similar other related diseases.

Hence, it is essential that we must ensure to develop our immunity, as then corona infection may not harm us much. We can develop our immunity by living in harmony with nature and practising yoga. Corona affects our breathing, while pranayama and other yogic actions help us in strengthening the respiratory system. Then why not resort to yoga?

ECONOMIC CHALLENGE

While it is imperative to keep ourselves fit, it is equally important that our national economy does not slip. Our country will require more resources with corona at our door, and hence, we should desist from doing things that will hit our economy like when lockdowns have to be imposed. Last year, we were caught by surprise when corona first attacked us, then we hardly had testing centres and PPE kits for our medical warriors. Lockdowns gave us some time to prepare ourselves for developing at least the minimum infrastructure to deal with the virus.

LOCKDOWN NOT THE ANSWER

Now we have a system, infrastructure and even vaccines and hence, we do not need any more lockdowns. We should not repeat things that will contract our GDP, when we have the opportunity for double-digit growth. We have to do things simultaneously: fighting corona by taking precautions and nursing the economy.

ASSUME A NEW ROLE

The challenge brought by corona should be considered as an opportunity. Today, the world hit by corona needs more vaccines and medicines and hence, it can be an opportunity for us to emerge as the ‘pharmacy for the world’. We have got the initial advantage of having big vaccine producing companies and also big pharma undertakings. Our scientists in the medical field have done a good job in a short time by developing the formula for Covaxin, which is now being manufactured by Bharat Biotech.

We can formulate some more such know-how to produce the required drugs and vaccines. We should concentrate on our vision of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and try to become a big player in the global supply-chain. Many big foreign manufacturers are leaving China after corona and hence, this becomes an opportune time for us to fill the vacuum created in the global supply chain. Corona is bad but it has also provided us an opportunity even while we fight the evil of Corona.

EACH OF US HAS A ROLE

The most important thing for us to keep in mind is that corona, when fought by each of us individually, the country as a whole will be free from corona. The role of the government is restricted to providing basic infrastructure and facilities. The government will help us in testing for the virus and provide us with hospital facilities when we get infected. The government will also help in boosting research so that quality vaccines are produced. The government with the available resources can give our poor citizens the vaccines for free. But here the responsibility of the government ends. The government cannot always monitor and check whether we are wearing masks and maintaining social distancing or not. We have to come forward and take the vaccines. We, the people of India and the government have to work together to put up a fight against corona. We defeated it last year and we will defeat it once again.