It is knocking at the door yet again. The world, especially China is facing unprecedented crisis at Covid-19 has re-emerged and is spreading like wild fire. A government report stated on Friday and as reported by the media, China, which is battling the sudden surge of infections in the last one week, has reported that nearly 37 million people may have been infected with Covid-19 on a single day this week. This crisis with 37 million cases a day, is so far the largest in the world, a media report stated.
As per the current estimates, as many as 248 million people, or nearly 18 per cent of the population, is likely got infected due to the virus in the first 20 days of December. This data was shared at an internal meeting of China’s National Health Commission held on Wednesday, the Bloomberg report stated.
A news analysis by British scientific information and analytics company Airfinity on Thursday estimated that China is most likely experiencing a whopping one million Covid infections and 5,000 virus-related deaths every day. But the current estimates are much more than that and might surpass the earlier record of about four million cases in a day set in January. This is very precarious situation for China. On Thursday, Chinese health officials said that it is expecting the peak to come within a week. News agency Reuters also reported that Health officials have told state media the peak would increase the rate of infection, which would last for one or two months.
However, in India the good news is that the Union government is alert on the possibility of a surge of the Covid-19 cases in the country. The Union Health Ministry reported only nine fatalities in the last 24 hours, six of them from Kerala and two deaths in Maharashtra and one in Delhi. The active cases have declined to 3,380 which is 0.01 per cent of the total 4,46,76,678 infections in the country while the death toll stands at 5,30,690 and the recovery rate has increased to 98.80 per cent. The active case load declined by 22 in a span of 24 hours.
After the sudden spurt in Covid cases in China and some other countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a high-level meeting on Thursday to review the situation related to COVID-19 in the country. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Home Minister Amit Shah, Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and top officials attended the virtual meeting. Ahead of the meeting, in a statement in Lok Sabha, Minister Mandaviya asked states to remain alert and create awareness about wearing face masks and using hand sanitizers, especially in view of upcoming festivals and new year celebrations. On Wednesday, Mandaviya had reviewed the situation and asked people to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour, including wearing masks in crowded places, and getting vaccinated.
However, closer home in Goa, ironically the State government will not impose any Covid-19-related restrictions till January 2 but will review the situation on January 3, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Friday after chairing a high-level meeting here. It is still a party time for all in Goa. However, the Chief Minister left it on the public to voluntarily follow Covid-19-appropriate behaviour. “The state will not impose any Covid-19 related restrictions till January 2, but will review the situation on January 3”, said Chief Minister Sawant. He did add that as per the Centre’s direction, a mock drill will be conducted on December 27 to check the preparedness to tackle any potential of outbreak.
As Goa gears up to ring in the Christmas and New Year festivities amid a rise in Covid-19 cases in some countries, the state government has appealed to the people not to panic, but to take necessary precautions. The message is clear that till January 2, 2023 it is all upon the common people to follow ‘appropriate behaviour’ to protect themselves from Covid-19 virus. The experience with this virus has been very painful in the past but the actions to prevent it from entering the state and spreading is lackadaisical as the state, which is a tourist destination is also banking heavily for revenue generation from the visiting tourists.
