Government confident of taming Coronavirus

New Delhi: India is better prepared now to tackle any challenges that Covid throws our way, said Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan at an event on Friday. Commenting on the Covid-19 trajectory in India and the recent surge in cases, Vardhan noted at the 'India Economic Conclave' that: "The detailed concerted efforts of Central and State governments and India's investment in the "Test, Track and Treat" strategy have resulted in India recording one of the lowest cases and deaths per million population.

In the initial part of the pandemic, we had to establish everything from scratch, be it the surveillance, the laboratory capacity, the dedicated hospital infrastructure for Covid, the logistics of therapeutics and vaccine and not to forget creation of the public movement for Covid appropriate behaviour. We have amply demonstrated that our policy of test, track and treat effectively contains the transmission."

"Now that the systems are in place, we are better prepared to tackle any challenges that it throws our way. The situation of recent surge in cases is being closely monitored. Decisive steps, which include strict enforcement of Covid protocols as well as creating micro-containment zones wherever needed, will be used to keep a check on the rise in number of cases," he added.

Responding to a question on the second wave of Covid in India, Vardhan said: "India followed a graded, pre-emptive, proactive, whole of Government and society approach in tackling Covid pandemic in the country.

The graded opening up of economy and commercial activities followed a sustained decline in Covid-19 epi-curve in the country. This was essential to negate the economic impact that Covid-19 has had globally, including India. Historically, the pandemics of the past have come in waves and COVID is no exception. This was amply witnessed when the second wave hit Europe and Americas. It still eludes the scientific community why pandemics behave in this way."

He continued, "Physical distancing is an established non-pharmaceutical intervention to suppress/contain the transmission of the Covid virus. The modality for ensuring such physical distancing measures have to be evidence based. In this context, partial lockdowns such as night curfews or weekend lockdowns would not have much impact on the transmission cycle.

As for vaccine, there are still many critical unknowns, especially with regards to the impact on transmission and duration of protection these vaccines offer. Further what is clear is it reduces severity of disease and hence impacts the mortality."