In Saturday’s all-important virtual meetings that deliberated extensively on the approaching danger posed by the second Covid wave in Arunachal Pradesh, various people’s representatives raised the pertinent issue of opening up vaccination for all age groups. It’s not sure whether the call has reached New Delhi, but strictly from medical science point of view and day-to-day Covid developments, terming it as a wild and far-from-reality demand and rubbishing it off will not be easy. The term ‘exponential pattern’ till now had been the preferred choice of medical experts while explaining the rising Covid graph, however, the daily jumps the country is witnessing over past few days have baffled them to the extent that they have started hunting for a more appropriate mathematical term that would mirror the gravity of the time better. Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow where reportedly the municipal corporation exhausted its stock of woods to burn the dead bodies of Covid victims who virtually died like insects and the frightful scenes of their unending mass pyres will narrate the whole of the story. It's more horrifying than any best-selling paranormal thriller novel and Saturday turned out to be the deadliest of all days since January 30, 2020 when the first Covid case was recorded in India-1,341 more deaths and more than 2.34 lakh new patients. Arunachal is staring at a scenario when cases are going to gallop if the emerging trend is taken as an indicator and while the selective vaccination policy of the Centre will seem to remain in force as of now, masks, hand sanitizers and social distancing will be the only saviours.

One of the chief takeaways of the first wave was that elderly are the most vulnerable to coronavirus and death and infection charts will also corroborate it and for India and the world it has remained the same. However, in the 2^nd one that is currently rampaging with the medical consensus that the new devil is the new and deadlier mutant strain, it’s the youngsters and children joining the patient chart in the hospitals and medical facilities. It can be inferred with an amount of certainty that the reason for sudden explosion of cases has its genesis in the new strain that has managed to make the younger people equally susceptible like the elderly. Various state-wise reports based on case records from mid-February to April 2^nd week has shown that besides the 17-40 year slab, those below 16 years and also even those below 10 years are gradually becoming the Covid-vulnerable segments of population. It’s also most disturbing to note that these sections are still exhibiting the ‘don’t care’ attitude and disobeying most of the SOPs.

To win the new battle, the government must again think over the ‘vaccine for all’ proposition and all youngsters must also strictly obey all SOPs.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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