Reckless Covid Negligence

The cries for help grew louder with each passing day in the last few weeks. Some sought help with ICU beds, some just a hospital bed, some for Remdesivir, some for FabiFlue, some for vaccines, some for oxygen; the list is endless. Out of nowhere some states in India were plunged into another, more devastating, round of Covid. Last few weeks India has been averaging around 3 lakh cases per day and over 1000 deaths. And as if this tragedy wasn’t enough, an oxygen accident killed 22 patients in a Nashik hospital. And in another incident, a fire killed 13 patients in a Virar hospital.  Telling you the story in text will not explain it as much as a graph and it will be hard to explain why the Covid cases suddenly shot up so dramatically in February and March 2021 and continues to play havoc:

The most affected states are clearly Maharashtra and Delhi – both ruled by corrupt parties who do nothing but whine and blame others or indulge in self-aggrandisment. Of course, in all of this, the Centre has not exactly covered itself in glory. The Health Minister, in particular, had no clue what was going on and he was in his world of empty blabber as most of his party-men were busy campaigning for Bengal, TN and other states. The reckless and carefree manner of election campaign by all parties makes them all criminally guilty of violating norms and subjecting people to mass-danger. But BJP being the biggest party spread across multiple states will naturally take a greater beating for it. Incompetent fool that he is, Dr Harsh Vardhan grandly declared in early March that India was in the “endgame” with Covid:

That was literally throwing caution to the winds. And when the Health Minister makes such ill-informed statements, it is natural that others will lower their guard and be a lot more carefree. This is exactly what happened. It is not just that, long before the current round of Covid invasion, the PM and many of his ministers were making idiotic statements like India was better off, there were lower deaths compared to our population size and so on. Little did it occur to all those who made such statements that the entire Covid disaster cannot be measured against the whole population. It has to be measured by the population of the states that are affected. Lower deaths and cases are not some “competitive advantage” that can be bragged about in a pandemic. Modi either indulges in excessive fear-mongering or in excessive chest-thumping. And we are currently paying the price for such negligence:

Not only were Modi & Co too quick to declare victory against Covid but his penchant for pats from the West has also reduced the negotiating power of India. When former President Trump snapped his fingers a bit angrily, Modi quickly ordered supplies of Hydroxychloroquine to the US and a couple of more countries. Trump later banned export of raw material for vaccines to India and the ban stays till date. Another request from India has been declined.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also laments India’s rise as a pharma giant and supplier. Modi must now learn that he has no friends among these racists who want to keep India down. Since October-November 2020, Modi and his ministers were constantly playing down Covid as if the threat was over or at least reduced to insignificance. In six months, there have been more statements on downplaying Covid than in keeping the warnings up. Although, some states like Maharashtra, Delhi were indeed warned of continued threats but they weren’t bothered and Modi didn’t follow up with any action:

So, what exactly caused all this problem? Today oxygen tanks are being moved by rail and air. Two dozen mobile oxygen plants are being air-lifted from Germany. There is panic across many states and some hospitals are starving for oxygen. Hopefully, this too will pass whether solved or not. But the temptation to lower the guard started in November and it started with nothing but the greed of winning elections. The BJP has developed itself into a well-oiled election winning machine and the one last frontier that it wanted to conquer was Bengal. There were a few more states going to polls – Assam, TN, Kerala, Puducherry but Bengal is the glittering prize that the BJP desperately wanted to win. The moment things settled down a bit, all caution was thrown the wind from November 2020 the BJP had embarked on its election campaign. The elections were to held in March-April but BJP wanted to be miles ahead in the race and months ahead in the campaign:

Not only was PM Modi campaigning heavily in Bengal and other states, his entire retinue of ministers also descended on Bengal. Every Tom, Vadakkan and Hairy from the BJP was in Bengal campaigning. There is no doubt that Bengal is an important election for the BJP and the country but the manner in which PM and others threw Covid-caution to winds simply tells the story of their own reckless behaviour. Even as Covid cases were rising in some more states as were deaths, the GOI remained oblivious to the situation. They kept campaigning till the fourth phase of Bengal elections and suspended campaign only when EC also banned it. By then cases had gone up beyond 3 lakhs a day and deaths were averaging 2000 a day.

Even if you take up the total cases of around 16 million in India and about 5 million new ones in this second phase the number is not that great when compared to the population but the medical infrastructure is already creaking and breaking down. There is the regular moronic problem of migrants. First time around last year, we could sympathise with them. We could sense their situation of uncertainty and wanting to rush home but they seem to want to indulge in this reckless cattle-like behaviour each time there is a temporary problem. No state has called for a full lockdown or stoppage of all work, yet the migrants are again running helter-skelter creating havoc. The first action to stop the spread of Covid has to be stop transportation of people – road, rail and air. The maximum transmission happens when people are floating around. None of that has been controlled and, therefore, the problems are going to mount. Some states that aren’t currently showing many cases may show up in the next couple of months.

Foolishly enough, as with other cases of blockades and agitations, the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court are also hearing petitions on oxygen supplies. One has to wonder what the courts know or can do. They only interfere and act as a hindrance to the govt which is already struggling to cope with the demands. When a crisis faces in India, the entire system not only breaks down, there are many cooks who jump to spoil the broth too.

To summarise, this second round of Covid has come about due to recklessness of both, the Centre and some States. Both have let their guard down and allowed the pandemic to grow again. The only way to put a halt to the spread is to stop movement of people temporarily. At least for a week all transport must be stopped. But the govt doesn’t seem to be inclined on that. The unreserved compartments in trains are like hell and are gateways to the spread of Covid. There is going to be no miracle, no saviour – it is simply going to be a long-drawn fight. Everyone just has to be prepared for it.

 

Follow the blog on Twitter / Follow on Koo.

Subscribe To EducatingForward / Buy The EF Handbook

Donate in INR / Donate in US$