Prof Partho Sarothi Ray, who did his PhD in molecular virology from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, was one of the scientists consulted by the World Health Organization to judge the character of the coronavirus and formulate a policy to tackle the pandemic. In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, Ray, associate professor of biological sciences at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata, says that India lags far behind in detecting the character of the virus, and is therefore clueless about how to deal with Covid-19.
Edited excerpts:
The WHO has said that we need to learn to live with this virus.
Absolutely right. Are we not living with TB and influenza? This is called attenuation process. As it kills the people it infects, the virus dies, too, thereby losing its ability to infect more people. And so, the virus continues to mutate or change, and stays in the population. This is called endemic virus, which has the ability to come back but is not lethal. Only people with low immunity, underlying disease and malnutrition will die. My question is: are they not dying today? Has the government done anything proactive to check malnutrition?
How did you help the WHO?
The WHO has enlisted virologists around the world, I am one of them. They have been constantly in touch with us ever since the outbreak in Wuhan.
They wanted to know the trajectory of the disease, how many varieties this virus could generate, and if it mutates, then to how many forms. This is called knowing the genotypes of the virus.
How does knowing the genotype help?
Around the world, there is an attempt to develop medicines and vaccines to fight Covid-19. One vaccine or medicine may work on a particular genotype, but not on the other.
How many genotypes have been found so far?
The molecular biologist community across the world could identify 29 genotypes. Unfortunately, in India, we have only found two. There has been no attempt to find out the different genotypes of coronavirus in India. Here, only words like lockdown are doing the rounds.
Please elaborate.
While the WHO could get 29 different genotypes from a large section of samples around the world, in India we could produce only two samples where two different kinds of genes in the virus were found. India is lagging far behind in detecting the character of the virus, and is therefore clueless about how to deal with it.
So, molecular biologists do not support the lockdown?
Not at all. We do not think the lockdown is useful. Lockdown makes infected people remain at home. As a result, families are infected. If symptoms persist, they will go to the doctor. But in 65 per cent of the cases, the symptom is missing. When the lockdown ends, these people will come out and infect old and vulnerable people, leading to resurgence of the virus. That is what happened during the 1918 Spanish influenza—the mortality rate peaked during resurgence.
Why did the government declare the lockdown?
Only the government would know that. Perhaps it was done out of fear and to replace testing. The WHO repeatedly emphasised on testing. India should have isolated the founder population (who first carried the virus into the country). But we failed to do that totally. By declaring the lockdown, we have now hit our economy.
What about Italy, Spain and the US then?
Please do not bracket them with us. Countries like Italy, the US and European countries have an aged population. Sixty-eight per cent of Italy’s population is old (above 60). So, Italy along with Spain felt the heat. Also, Italy did not want to lose its vibrant tourism income. So, it did not prevent the inflow of foreigners.
But these countries are under lockdown now. They did so to conduct tests and arrange medical facilities.
And, India is not doing that?
Not at all. Italy tested around 5,000 people per million of its population, while India tested 18 people per million. If you do not test and arrange for more ICUs, beds or facilities for health care professionals, then what is the purpose of the lockdown?
But we do not have enough test kits.
That cannot be an excuse. We have at least 10,000 molecular testing labs where such testing can be done.
How does that work?
We need the blood samples and a known case sample to compare the gene. It can be done for Rs1,000 or less. In fact, two weeks ago at IISER, we did a cost estimate for the test and it came around Rs700.
But how reliable would that test be?
More reliable than the dubious kits in the market. I am astounded that the government has fixed the price at Rs4,500 per test. Some specific companies have been given orders. We are totally shocked. A section of the corporate world is out to make profit in this critical time.
Have you approached the government?
That is the most unfortunate thing. Our scientific labs are far better than those in many countries. Even organisations like the WHO rely on our research and development. But neither the Indian government nor any state government has consulted us.
But India is following the WHO guidelines.
The WHO said isolate and test. It did not say lock down. India has locked down but is not testing. If you do not test, you will not know the varieties of the virus or its mutations.
