As the month of July nears its halfway mark, the hope marking its beginning that the 2nd Covid wave is walking backwards seems to be getting replaced soon by the fearful prospect of an approaching 3rd one. On Monday, through a press release, the Indian Medical Association (IMA), while stating in clear terms that Covid 3.0 may strike anytime soon, has appealed to the Central and state governments to make the protective guards further stronger. IMA’s advice must be taken seriously since it can be recalled that the critical phase of transition i.e. passage from one bout to another was completely missed out from the radar during February-March that cost the country unprecedentedly. The largest body of medical practitioners has lamented the lack of seriousness among people and governments and no doubt, it’s a correct reflection of what’s going on all around.
The press release, while recalling the global evidence and the history of pandemics, has warned that the third wave is inevitable and imminent. “It is painful to note...in many parts of the country both the government and public are complacent and engaged in mass gatherings without following Covid protocols,” it said, which should serve as a wake-up call.  It will be hard to challenge the allegation that the congregation of millions of devotees in April in Haridwar even when the 2nd wave was much palpable has been a super-spreader event and the fallout has been extensive which is still lingering. No lessons have been learnt and neither there were any efforts to monitor the observance of Covid Appropriate Behaviour among tourists nor there were measures to filter the unvaccinated ones. Opinions are also coming that the 3rd wave has already set its foot during the early part of the ongoing month and it will be no surprise if the assumption comes out to be true. The fear factor will be compounded if one looks at how the much-hyped ‘for-all’ vaccination campaign that kicked off on June 21 has lost its steam. Going by the data displayed on CoWIN platform, while from June 21-27 an average of 61.14 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered daily, in the following week from June 28-July 4 it dropped to 41.92 lakh daily and in the preceding week (July 5- July 11), the daily average has further fallen to 34.32 lakh doses. It’s imaginable that the target of a full coverage within December as promised loudly will be a next-to-impossible task if the slide continues and no seriousness is shown for a reversal.
As the IMA has correctly suggested, all mass gatherings, for religious and cultural purposes or for leisure, must be banned at least till September. The culture of callousness during this phase of transition is ridiculous.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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