Stop the wave

Govt must act swiftly to contain the Covid surge

Covid-19 cases are once again rising rapidly and can lead to a second wave if action is not taken on a war footing. In his meeting with chief ministers on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was bang on when he asked state governments to take quick and decisive steps to contain the spread of the virus. The number of daily new infections has more than tripled over the last few weeks. India reported about 36,000 cases on Thursday. While the risk has definitely increased across the country, a large number of cases are concentrated in a few states, which need more attention. About 85 per of the new cases reported on Thursday were concentrated in six states, including Maharashtra and Kerala. The situation in Maharashtra is particularly worrying — the daily new case count is now close to the September peak.

In the given circumstances, the government should once again start spreading awareness about the importance of Covid-appropriate behaviour and significantly increase testing. A second wave would be extremely unfortunate, given that both the governments and the public, in general, know what needs to be done to contain the spread. People became more complacent with declining cases until a few weeks ago and approval of vaccines. Notably, a number of political leaders are acting irresponsibly as they are campaigning for Assembly elections without masks. The Centre should also work with states reporting higher cases to contain the spread of the virus. Besides, the increase in infection underscores the need to rapidly scale up the vaccination programme. Some states have suggested opening up vaccination for everyone. The Central government must actively consider this option as India has a long way to go, having vaccinated just 2 per cent of its population. Instead of the Centre centralising everything, the states should be allowed to decide how they want to take the programme forward.

The experience of dealing with Covid over the last one year shows a one-size-fits-all policy approach has serious limitations and doesn’t work in a country like India. Some states are wasting far too many vaccines, which must be avoided. Increasing the vaccination rate is imperative. This will require several other policy interventions. For instance, the government should reconsider both the vaccine price and service charge fixed for private hospitals as a large number of people and corporations are willing to pay for the jab. The government can continue to give it free at its own facilities. Moreover, the government should be open to approving vaccines that are being administered in other parts of the world. Those vaccines can also be produced in India. Bridging trials will only delay the supply. In effect, the government needs to remove the hurdles that it has put for both supply and demand.

Meanwhile, states should avoid taking arbitrary steps such as imposing curfew and lockdown in cities that have seen a surge. Such economically disruptive measures create confusion and disrupt supply chains. The local administration in Mumbai, for example, is considering imposing night curfew, which makes no sense. It is worth remembering that India has itself demonstrated it is possible to break the link between mobility and infection. Disruption in activity and supply chains will impair the ongoing economic recovery. Thus, avoiding a large sustained wave will need intelligent interventions from both the Central and state governments. India must learn from what’s happening around the world.