Preparations for third COVID wave lack coordination, with Centre busy issuing guidelines and playing politics

A possible third wave of COVID-19 seems to be the most discussed issue in India. Common people as well as experts, political parties in opposition as well as those in the ruling establishments, governments in the states as well as at the Centre, have been discussing it for several weeks. When the ruling class speak, we hear them speaking like angels, and giving call for a united fight against the impending danger. However, the actual preparation lacks even coordination between the Centre and the states.

The Union government is busy in issuing guidelines and playing politics with their narrative that health is a state subject while the states are struggling with the pandemic with whatever little resources they have, whether it is finance, medical facilities such as availability of vaccines, drugs, or oxygen etc. States are compelled to function under supervision of the Centre, sometimes without coordination but with much interference.

Take the example of NCT of Delhi. On August 4, Centre’s appointee Lieutenant Governor held a COVID-19 review meeting with officials, but did not involve the elected government of the state under the leadership of the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. When the elected government has been handling the battle against COVID-19, the wisdom of the LG Anil Baijal to hold a parallel meeting is questionable. It has a potential to adversely impact the preparedness against the third wave in the national capital.

Ironically, during the meeting, Baijal stressed on the need for coordinated action by all stakeholders for effective management of COVID-19.

As for the preparedness, LG Anil Baijal asked the state health department to ensure commissioning of all PSA plants, LMO storage tanks, and cryogenic bottling plants latest by August 31. The instruction itself reveals that by the time the national capital will be ready for the battle, it would be too late if the predicted third wave of the pandemic actually strikes anytime after August 15. It should make anyone in Delhi alarmed because the state has witnessed so many COVID deaths including of some doctors due to lack of oxygen, which the Union Government had denied in the parliament.

The only good news for Delhiites is that no COVID death was registered on the day the LG held parallel meeting with the officials behind the elected government. But many see it a political move by the Centre in a bid to get credit for controlling the second wave in the national capital while the work was actually done by the elected government of the state.

Now take another example of Kerala, which has been contributing over 50 per cent of the new COVID-19 cases in India. Even on August 5, Kerala reported 23,676 new cases, the highest single-day spike since May 29. There is no denying the fact that performance of Kerala is best among all states of the country, but even then situation there is alarming.

In this situation, the Centre should have avoided criticizing the state and established better coordination to ascertain the reasons and doing its best to support the state in all aspects to control the pandemic, because if we fail in Kerala, we would be defeated in other states which have lesser infrastructure in the form of medical facilities, medical professionals and networks at the grassroots. The Centre must not treat the alarming situation in Kerala as a state subject and sit idle in Delhi, only issuing guidelines, and playing politics.

India has been struggling to contain the spread of new COVID-19 variants, such as Delta for the last few months, which is more infectious and is suspected to bypass the immunity. It was the major cause behind the second wave. A new mutation named Delta Plus has also been detected. To deal with the eventuality of a third wave, India needs to build the necessary medical infrastructure and prepare medical workers within the very short time available to us.

India’s COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package is the only resource we have. The Phase II of this package was announced last month with an allocation of Rs 23,123 crore for the current fiscal 2021-22, which is to be shared by both the Centre and the states. The Centre’s share is Rs 15,000 crore and the rest is to be shared by the states that are already facing a financial crunch. Since from its share Centre will also support hospitals run by it and other institutions, the Centre’s share for states will be reduced to Rs 12,185 crore. Moreover, the Centre has released only 15 per cent of the amount, that too only a few days ago. It means the plans cannot be implemented in the few weeks available to the country before the third wave strikes, though it talks of numerous measures.

Several states have been complaining about unavailability of vaccines in sufficient quantity. Some are complaining about ‘vaccine politics’ between the Centre and the States, while the country needs ramping up the level of production, and securing and distributing the same equitably among the states.

In the meantime, the economy has been opening and people are thronging public places in large numbers and even without simple safety measures, such as masks and physical distancing. There is little coordination between the Centre, states, and the people.

The Centre has asked 10 states -- Maharashtra, Kerala, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram, Assam, Manipur, and Meghalaya -- to consider imposing stricter curbs in 46 districts of the country where the positivity rate is above 10 per cent.

Apart from this, 53 districts are showing positivity rate between 5 and 10 per cent. As many as 14 states have been recording a steady rise in daily COVID-19 infections for the last few weeks. The daily new cases are not coming down substantially for several weeks which is a major cause of concern, because experts say it might be the onset of a third wave which may peak anytime between October and November. The Centre has asked all the states to impose stricter containment measures.

(IPA Service)