Barely had the vaccination drive instilled a fresh sense of hope globally, the fresh wave which seems to have taken off late March and the UK variant of the virus seen earlier, threaten to unsettle whatever little ground that was covered since.
Brazil, lost 345,000 lives to COVID-19 second only to USA, is on the brink of a raging outbreak again as per Bruce Aylward adviser to the director general of WHO. A Senate inquiry on the handling of COVID-19 outbreak is pending, which President Jair Bolsonaro has openly denounced. Although he has backed off fromcommenting against usefulness of the vaccine, he continues to object to lockdowns and milder restrictions being attempted. Many officials seem to give-in to his political pressures. Rio de Janeiro, second largest city of the country has let Covid restrictions, put in place late March, expire last week, allowing bars and restaurants to resume in-person serviceonce again.
UK has reported another 3,150 people have tested positive for Covid-19 and 60 deaths in 24 hours as of 10 April 2021. The cumulative total number of cases in the country is now 4,365,461 as per official figures, while 31.9 million people have received their first jab of the coronavirus vaccine.
Imperial College London researchers have found Covid-19 infections had dropped about 60% in March, most likely a result of the national Lockdown in March. At the same time researchers have urged caution as infection rates leveled off at the end of their study as government eased the national lockdown and schools reopened.
The next step in lifting UK’s lockdown is scheduled for April 12 when non-essential shops are slated to reopen including outdoor service to be allowed at pubs and restaurants.
The US has seen 65,533new cases in the past day as of April 10 with 709 new deaths as per John Hopkins coronavirus resource center. The record high of cases stands at 300,295 for January 2, 2021. Fully vaccinated numbers stood at 64 million plus or 19.79% of the population as of April 10. The heartening news is that vaccination for all age groups is likely to begin soon.
India has overtaken Brazil and the daily rate saw 152,879 new cases and 839 deaths as of April 10. The five states of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala together account for 72 percent of the national total. With 51 percent of all cases in Maharashtra, its Chief Minister is in consultations to decide when and if to go into lockdown. Night curfews are already in place, in many states.InUttarakhand’s holy cityof Haridwar the situation looks grim. With the Kumbh Mela under progress where thousands of devotees are currently converged for ritual bathing in the Ganges, apparently flouting Covid regulations blatantly
The situation is worrisome in the city-State of Delhi as well, and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has clamped down on most public gatherings and fresh restrictions have come into place for restaurants, theaters, weddings and also funerals.
Between the battle of vaccination drives and virus variants, the sense of hope that vaccines have delivered shouldn’t turn into mindless bravado if we are to tackle this menace successfully. Hasn’t it already wreaked enough havoc upon us since last year.
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