Amid newer Covid response plans, laxity : CDC in an internal document warned the world on 31 July that the war against the deadly virus has changed

PARAG BISWAS SNS, SILIGURI, 8 AUGUST 21 : Acting in the face of uncertainty has been a defining theme of the Covid- 19 pandemic, even within the context of lockdowns, vaccinations, evolving therapies and standard operating procedures. But it's becoming increasingly harder to combat the pandemic.

What were once considered potential responses to the virus may soon become strategies of the past as the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) in an internal document warned the world on 31 July that the war against the deadly virus has changed and called for a new response to the extremely contagious Delta variant of the virus.

Health experts and officials from across the world like the former Union Health Minister, Harsh Vardhan, who had claimed that vaccinated people would not pass on the pathogen and thereby break the chains of transmission in the society, may have to now eat up their words as the CDC report noted that unlike with other strains, vaccinated people infected with the Delta variant could transmit the virus and that breakthrough infections in the vaccinated people could make them about as contagious as those who were unvaccinated. The report said that in the third wave, vaccinated and unvaccinated people had nearly the same amount of virus recovered from test samples, indicating that vaccinated people could be just as contagious as unvaccinated people when it came to the Delta variant.

Studies in the past few months have found that the Kappa variant may escape monoclonal antibody therapy and the body's innate immune response, while scientists have encountered a new coronavirus variant, namely Lamda, which may be resistant to Covid -19 vaccines.

In a study conducted during the second wave in May this year, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) examined the cases of 1,300 individuals, who had tested positive for the virus twice. It was found that the cases of 58 of the 1,300 individuals, or 4.5 percent, could actually be classified as possible re-infections In these 58, the two positive results had come at least 102 days apart.

However, on 28 July, it was revealed that a Mumbai based physician, Dr Shrusthi Halari, had tested positive for the coronavirus thrice in over a year.  What was even more surprising was that the doctor, who swore that she had been following aII safety protocols, tested positive for Covid-19 twice after receiving both doses of vaccine in a span of just 41 days.

Just two days after Dr Halari's case was reported, a similar case surfaced from Delhi. A 61-year-old doctor, whose identity was not disclosed, had reportedly tested positive for the first time in August and had her first vaccine, followed by the second dose in March.In April she tested positive for Covid-19 again, followed by another in May, just 22 days apart.

Another incident came to light in the Barasat district of West Bengal, where a 34 year-old woman, Dalia Bibi, passed away on 30 July this year after getting infected thrice by the SARS Cov-2 virus in three consecutive months. She contracted the disease in May, June and July this year.

Though researchers have assured that these anomalies were very rare, many people in north Bengal, including medical experts, who agree with the CDC report, suggested several multi-pronged strategies to eliminate the disease from the face of the Earth.

Social activist Pradeep Dasgupta, who was himself Covid positive for 23 long days in April-May this year, felt that though a large number of people were suffering from financial strain due to the pandemic, the governments in our country should have considered the option of keeping the country under strict lockdown for at least two months and vaccinated a large section of the country's population on a war-footing. "The deadly coronavirus may never be controlled if the authorities relax restrictions every time cases tend to drop. The virus is mutating rapidly and only speedy vaccination along with total lockdown can ensure that the chain of infection is broken and a variant that can evade vaccines does not come up soon and defeat the very purpose of spending billions of rupees on the inoculation drive," he said.

According to renowned educationist and dental surgeon in Siliguri, Dr SS Agarwal, who had contracted the disease in July last year, the disease had become uncontrollable due to a lack of proper attitude towards it among the masses. "Things wouldn't have come to such a pass

if we had not been so negligent in our attitude towards the disease. We have either been defiant and disobedient towards the standard operating procedures or have spread unnecessary panic in the name of following them," he said.

The ace medical practitioner suggested that the high-ups in the state must strictly follow the advice of experts and scientists, who were dealing with the disease and the virus every day. "The decisions taken by our political leaders in charge of administration to tackle the covid menace such as imposing lockdown, earmarking containment zones, easing of restrictions and reopening educational institutions are driven and dictated by political motives and are never based on expert advice or scientific evidence. It is high time the authorities at various levels realized that they would be able to tackle the menace effectively only if they pay heed to the advice and follow the guidance of experts and scientists, who have the proper knowledge of the disease and have firsthand experience of it," he said.