Rupa Subramanya, a distinguished fellow of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, who is also a researcher and a commentator in her latest opinion article talks about how India is well-prepared to fight and beat the Omicron variant.
Rupa speaks on how the virus caught India prepared, when Covid 19 hit at an all time high in 2020. She points at several factors including dearth of medical equipment, non-availability of medical facilities especially in the rural areas, slow production of covid 19 vaccines – all responsible for the slow fight against the virus and hundreds of deaths in the country.
Writing about the current situation, she says that as per reports, almost 45% Indians have received two vaccine doses. Vaccination campaigns for those under 18 years of age and booster dose for those over 60 with comorbidities are also being rolled out. And given, the high infection rate of the virus, Rupa claims that millions of India are highly likely to have acquired natural immunity against it.
According to a Seroprevalence survey, where the percentage of individuals in a population who have antibodies to an infectious agent is calculated, 87% of people in Mumbai and 97% of people in Delhi, two of the largest cities in India, were found to be carrying COVID-19 antibodies, either through vaccination or in many cases through natural immunity. And considering the fact that Omicron is less severe than Delta, the researcher says that India’s omicron wave was likely to resemble that of South Africa, where the population profile of many young people carrying antibodies from prior infection proved to be far less devastating than many feared initially.
This time, India’s medical system are also better prepared with ramped up production of oxygen and availability for testing centres from urban to rural areas. The low severity of Omicron variant is reflective in the data that only 5 to 10% of the infected have been admitted to the hospital. The researcher says that the benefit of an initial harsh lockdown can be seen. The situation in India looks optimistic as the researcher claims that India should be able to ride through the Omicron wave with far reduced hospitalizations and deaths.
Rupa says, “While countries such as the Netherlands and Canada are in crisis mode, reimposing strict lockdowns in a vain attempt to curb the spread of the virus, India is now hopefully approaching the endgame of the pandemic.”
