India’s daily Covid-19 tally has increased once again, as 33,750 fresh cases have been recorded in the last 24 hours across the country. With the new cases logged today, the total tally of active caseloads in India has risen to 1.45 Lakh. According to the data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday, January 3, 123 Covid-19 deaths have been recorded in the country over the last 24 hours, pushing the total death toll to 4.82 Lakh deaths and 3.49 Crore cases. The situation in India is not an isolated one with the United Kingdom experiencing unprecedented surges during the month of December which has unfortunately continued in January with 1.37 Lakh cases being reported on 2nd January. The situation is no different in the United States of America with over 4 Lakh cases being detected on January 2nd.
The above mentioned figures prove that we reside in truly extraordinary times, where the frailties of civilisation don’t surprise us anymore, rather, they leave us expecting the worst. This is precisely how many would have felt over the last week. The rising cases of Covid-19 and especially the increasing number of cases with the omicron variant have imbued an ominous sense of déjà vu accompanied with an even more severe sense of dread. Normally it is a general tendency to blame the inefficient governance/policymaking for any catastrophe but in this particular situation even that sentiment will not be a popular one. At this point no particular government, billionaire, public, intellectual, etc. have any concrete solution to deal with the present situation. Therefore we have reached a point of uncertainty.
Today it is essential we ask why we have collectively reached this point. We must remember that the present situation that we have been confronted with is unique and unprecedented. Not only is the Covid-19 pandemic the first one in a century but it has also manifested itself in an increasingly economically and socially inter-connected world. In essence the task of containing this particular pandemic requires competent global policy making. While we can all point out the flaws in the initial efforts to contain the pandemic it is essential that we also critically engage with and try to improve upon the measures that were taken in the initial days to contain the virus. The news surrounding the recent upsurge in the Covid-19 cases have been significantly silent on demands for drastic government action. In fact the recent crisis has very rarely led to a demand for similar drastic policy decisions that were taken during the first phase of the pandemic. Therefore, while the recent crisis may require drastic measures to contain the spread it would also be a mistake to ignore the public fatigue that is presently visible. At this moment vaccination seems to be the only solution to this impasse. It is hoped that policy makers and the public engage and collaborate to take calculated and measured decisions to break out of the present state of affairs.
