Mutants, sluggish COVID-19 vaccine drive, no respect for rules causing rise in cases: Scientists

Union home minister Amit Shah during a roadshow in support of BJP candidates, at Santipur in Nadia, on Sunday. Pic/PTI

Why are India's COVID-19 cases flaring up so sharply? There are no clear answers but top scientists say the complex interplay of mutant strains, a hugely susceptible population made more vulnerable by elections and other public events and the lowering of guard are primarily to blame.

Virologist Shahid Jameel said the interplay of mutants and vaccines over the next couple of months will decide the future of COVID-19 in India and the world. "The intensity of the surge also suggests that there were a huge number of susceptible people after the first wave," said the director, Trivedi School of Biosciences at Ashoka University, Haryana.

John, professor of virology at Tamil Nadu's Christian Medical College, said, "Lowering of the guard was led by the Centre and followed by all political parties, all religious groups, and the public at large. Schools and colleges were opened without vaccinating all staff. This explains partly the second wave," he told PTI. Jameel agreed with him.

"The speed of spread in the second wave is twice as fast as in the first wave. Partly due to variants and partly lowering of the guard," John explained.

"India started slow vaccine rollout in January third week, but it was first a token reward to healthcare workers who were vaccinated even when there was no need - and we wasted a lot of vaccines," he said.

"We are on a very fast rising curve with only 0.7 per cent Indians having received both doses and only about 5 per cent having received one dose. That is too low to make an impact," Jameel said.

‘Centre has no control on COVID'

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said the Centre could neither control the pandemic nor address the problems of farmers and labourers.
"No control on the corona, not enough vaccines, no employment...Neither the farmers and the labourers are addressed, nor Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) safe. No middle class is satisfied...It was okay to eat mangoes, but you could have left the common man," read Rahul's tweet translated from Hindi.

UP shuts schools, orders night curfew

The Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday ordered the closure of all schools till April 30 and directed the imposition of a night curfew in the districts that report 100 new infections in a day or have 500 active cases. The directives came on the day UP reported its highest ever daily spike of 15,353 cases.

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