India’s COVID-19 Catastrophe: Cause, Effect & Future Trends

Abstract

The COVID crisis in India shows no sign of abating. The country of 1.4 billion has passed 30.5 million COVID-19 infections and over 402,000 deaths. Even government figures are likely underestimated due to problems with testing and reporting in the country. Reasonable estimates due to under reporting and lack of testing put these figures at three times higher. The new cases and deaths are predicted to rise by September 2021. The situation is bad in the main cities, but also that it is worse in the poorer and rural areas where lack of healthcare resources has made those populations most vulnerable to the disease. There is an urgent need for rapid tests for quantification of infectiousness to triage patients. In traumatised India, saving lives has become the highest priority to be achieved by vaccinating 70 per cent of the adult population. Over 200 million population have been vaccinated. India’s monthly COVID vaccine manufacturing capacity is about 60 - 65 million doses against the final requirement of 1.45 billion doses to cover 70 per cent adults. Even though the second surge is on a decline in most of the states, mucormycosis continues to be a public health concern. There are 41,000 mucormycosis cases reported during the second wave. Daily increase in Delta plus variant cases should alert the Policy-makers. It has a very high transmissibility. Genomic testing & surveillance of mutations to limit fresh twist of pandemic is a necessity. Only a few drugs have emerged as approved COVID-19 treatments. Where are we with drug treatment? Over 30 billion USD have been spent on vaccine development because it has a market. Very little is spent on research on drug discovery. There has not been any significant antibiotic molecule for the last two decades. Politics has played and continues to play a big part in the spread of the virus but it is a situation that needs a global approach. Tiding over a pandemic requires detailed preparation at multiple levels on the part of the State. New ways to prevent, detect, track and treat SARS-CoV-2 infections are crucial keeping in view the rise of more-transmissible viral mutants like Delta plus.