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IMA urges not to drop guard against COVID-19 after Vardhan's 'endgame' remark

IMA says 'unauthorised' political statements invoke false sense of security

indian medical association Representative image | PTI

In January this year, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the beginning of the end of the COVID-19 pandemic had come, as India began its countrywide vaccination drive. On March 7, with crores vaccinated but also amid an uptick in the number of cases, Vardhan said we have entered the endgame of the COVID-19 pandemic in India.

A day after his latest remarks, the Indian Medical Association have released a statement urging the government not to drop its guard against the virus.

Nothing that the last few weeks had shown a 35-40 per cent increase in the number of cases from different parts of India, with the daily average in Delhi rising from 100-140 patients, the IMA said it was “painful” that there were discussions in political corridors on the endemic versus pandemic status of the disease.

Earlier, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Sunday said the pandemic phase of the virus was ending and the endemic phase was beginning.

According to the US Centres for Disease Control, "The amount of a particular disease that is usually present in a community is referred to as the baseline or endemic level of the disease. This level is not necessarily the desired level, which may in fact be zero, but rather is the observed level. In the absence of intervention and assuming that the level is not high enough to deplete the pool of susceptible persons, the disease may continue to occur at this level indefinitely. "

The IMA said such discussions on the virus  reaching endemic status should be based on scientific evidence from the World Health Organisation and or Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). “Let us not boast or trumpet ourselves and indulge in prognosticating the course of this viral disease and offguard our preventive measures against this dreaded disease,” the IMA said.

India on Sunday registered above 18,000 cases for the third consecutive day with the active caseload going up for the sixth consecutive day—making up 1.68 per cent of total infections so far.93 new fatalities took the cumulative death toll to 1,57,853—the fourth-highest in the world after Mexico, Brazil and the US.

Cases in India had been on a continuous decline since September before picking up again in February.

The IMA also noted the incidence of new mutant strains in Brazil and South Africa. The Brazilian variant in particular has been wreaking havoc, as it appears to spread and cause hospitalisation even among younger members of the population as well as reinfect those who already contracted the virus once.

“IMA feel as the world countries are still reeling under the clutches of this disease, we need to deem it as pandemic only at this stage and work hard from all cylinders of preventive, curative and rehabilitative works,” the statement read.

“Unauthorised political statement shall invoke false sense of security and hence the Indian medical association, whose 740 frontline warriors had lost their lives in this war against corona, appeal to all our fellow citizens to be vigilant on wearing mask, physical distancing and hygiene and take vaccination to get yourself immunity and altruistic health contribution for herd immunity. True days are not far for us to celebrate but let us be guarded at this moment,” it concluded.

With India currently in the second phase of vaccinations, giving the Bharat Biotech Covaxin and Oxford-AstraZeneca Covishield (made by the Serum Institute of India) to elderly citizens and those with comorbidities, the hope is that those most vulnerable to the virus will be protected from it.

On Monday, Vardhan said the Centre was considering expanding the list of comorbidities to include more people under the current phase of vaccinations.

“These issues are all decided by NEGVAC (National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19). These have been flagged to us and will be addressed by NEGVAC. We will revise our list, if need be,” the minister said.

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