The Covid-19 pandemic has thus far remained an unsolved mystery and the stage has been reached when many are likening it with the many ‘unsolved mysteries’ the world has seen. The cascading conundrum reached a new level on Thursday when the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) informed that the country hasn’t reached the community transmission stage and coincidentally has come on the day when the biggest single-day jump of 9,996 new Covid cases was reported- the ninth consecutive day of 9000+ daily additions. And if the trend persists, it will need just two more days to surpass the 3 lakh mark. It will be most elating if ICMR’s ‘claim’ comes true, but, as of now, looking over the alarming hike in daily cases and deaths, the question chasing all will be - why all these unsettling figures even after the successive harsh lockdowns?

It can’t be denied that the term ‘community transmission’ in context of the current pandemic hasn’t had a comprehensive definition till now and there are wide differences among public health experts too. This has led to added confusion which can be observed both among those waging the battle from the front as well the common people. The most definite example will be Delhi, where the CM himself has said that by July 31, there are high chances that cases will hover around 5.5 lakh. Now, the immediate repercussion will be on the existing medical infra front and it is a matter of concern how to attend this huge spike of cases. There are reports that across many states, very soon there will be deficiencies in the required number of ICUs and ventilators, the two most important arsenals in the fightback.

With such more foreseeable difficult days ahead, that which becomes vital is the ‘grammar’ in fighting Covid as repeated by the WHO countless times, which is a proportionate mix of testing, tracing, tracking and quarantine, supplemented by the citizen’s individual hygiene measures. If the first three above are the responsibilities of the nation which constantly need a ‘reality check’ by the government(s), the last one, in the context of the country’s existing semi and underdeveloped health infra in particular, perhaps matters more now.

The target should be not to get infected and it’s known to all what are to be done. Among all the guidelines, if social distancing inadvertently gets diluted, the last protecting gear will always be the face masks, which has been corroborated very recently by an institution as high a repute as the Cambridge University through their new ‘Modelling Study’.

But, amid 'claims' and 'counterclaims' of the exact current position of the virus in the country, it seems that decoding the corona conundrum will perhaps take more time than initially expected.