Disturbing Times: Renewed Madness and the Vicious Circle of the Absurd!

Photo: phrases.org.uk

The Pandemic, at best, seemed only to have kept the madness of the modern age in a tight leash as long as it raged, creating a mortal fear over the whole of humankind. So, once the humans had discovered enough protection against it and succeeded in keeping it at bay, the modern-day madness seems to have come back with renewed vigor—to get back what they’ve lost over the last two years in real quick time. We can hardly pinpoint anyone to put the blame squarely on; because it’s affected almost every section or individual of the society. Coming to India, once the COVID-19 restrictions were completely lifted life’s started becoming more than normal. From the daily wage-earners and the vendors to the topmost business tycoons—almost everyone started showing extreme hurry to get back what they lost. The local admin authorities, also full of human beings only, joined in too; even the most discreet procedures were thrown out of the window. Tragedies, conflicts, absurdities and so on began unfolding very fast, peaking in the last few days while also giving the virus one more chance to come back.

 

Caught perhaps in a pandemic-induced mad frame of mind the new government in Punjab, the CM being a popular artiste, suddenly withdrew the security cover given to one of the state’s most popular singers who had been under threat from different gangs for various reasons. And tragically, the very next day, singer Sidhu Moose Wala was brutally gunned down in his car by gangsters chasing him in another car. Moose Wala was just 28 and had all the prime future ahead of him. To add to his there’s been a string of targeted murders of locals and non-local citizens in Jammu and Kashmir by terrorists whom the experts describe as micro-level operators or a kind of hybrid terrorism. Greatly disturbing tragedies, anyway.

 

As we mentioned at the beginning, even the minimum public safety measures were thrown away, almost everywhere in the country. And another tragedy happened. Kolkata’s humid heat is known to all who’ve experienced it. The 31^st of May 2022 was one such humid day when the heat was sweaty and unbearable even inside homes, under the whirring ceiling fans or even the struggling ACs. And, on that very day a popular playback singer in Hindi and in several south Indian and other languages, Krishnakumar Kunnath (famous as KK) was invited by local organizers in Kolkata to perform in the gloomy evening in one of the city’s premiere auditoriums, Nazrul Mancha.

 

Reports, dismissed as rumors, say the hall was more than packed as there were no restrictions on controlling entry of the extra hundreds of avid audiences, and that the AC was not functioning properly which is not surprising because we find the ACs getting weaker as the attendees get more and more on various occasions. The singer was seen wiping his sweat away and complaining to the organizers frequently. But, as a professional and for the success of the glamour event, he sang for nearly three hours. Then he felt uneasy complaining of chest pain. Surprisingly, he was taken to his hotel, instead of rushing him to the nearest hospital out of sheer common sense. KK collapsed in his hotel room and was declared dead on finally arriving in a hospital. KK, only 53, died of a heart attack as per the postmortem report. But was there nothing that could’ve triggered it in a person who had no previous history of heart problems?

 

Also perhaps severely affected by the post-pandemic madness, one advertising agency in Mumbai released ads on a male deodorant that directly promote the gang-rape theme even as there’ve been reports of rapes and gang-rapes taking place all over the country almost daily. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has promptly suspended the ads ordering those to be taken out of air everywhere. However, the question remains as to how those horrid ads passed layers and layers of the approval procedures. Or perhaps, it clearly pandered to the ‘tastes’ of a great majority of the stakeholders concerned. The same madness to recover what was lost by hook or by crook.

 

As the latest to happen to the continuing saga of greatly disturbing proceedings, one lady spokesperson of the ruling party (BJP) made some adverse remarks to Prophet Muhammad on a public platform yesterday. One more major communal riot unfolded on the streets of Kanpur as a result. The BJP, obviously concerned by the reactions of Qatar and the greater Arab world, suspended her along with one more male spokesperson for giving provocative speeches. The lady said later that she didn’t intend to hurt anyone’s sentiments; she was only pained by the alleged insults to ‘her Lord Shiva’. The other complained of serious threats to his life.

 

And then, the absurd of the absurd! A party that came to power on the strength of its aggressive Hindu nationalism and being condemned as a communal party all the time, the BJP is now accused by some of appeasing the Islamists! Well, we believe in one God or one Creator who may have various forms as per the beliefs of various other religions. We advise people, irrespective of to whatever extent they are being driven by the post-pandemic madness, to desist from fighting for ‘your God’ and ‘our God’ which can only bring us all to the brink, the world making a full circle, probably heading for the End.

 

The megastar Salman Khan today has received a letter threating death to him and his father Salim Khan in the ‘Moose Wala’ way. This could be another ‘vicious circle’ of the singer’s murder involving various probable gangsters of an unknown quantity. While in the US, apart from the mad shootings, there was report of a security issue with President Biden even as the Russian invasion of Ukraine has crossed hundred days.

Assembly Election Dates Announced By The ECI: Step Aside, Omicron!

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has today, a day when the country logged 1,41,986 new COVID-19 cases, announced the dates for assembly elections in 5 states of India, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa, starting from February 10, 2022. The polling in all five states will be completed between 10^th February and 7^th March in seven phases while the counting is to take place on 10^th March for all five states. UP election will be spread over all the seven phases till 7^th March; Uttarakhand, Punjab and Goa will have single phase polls on 14^th February; and Manipur will have two-phase polling due to security concerns in the state on 27^thFebruary and March 3, 2022. More than 180 million citizens are set to exercise their voting rights during this what is often referred as festival of democracy.

 

The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Sushil Chandra, assured while addressing a press conference in the national capital Delhi that the elections would be fully COVID-19 safe for all stakeholders—the authorities, the polling officials and the voters. He said that the ECI has held consultations with the concerned authorities in all the states taking stock of the situation and asked them to ramp up vaccination to have all the voters fully vaccinated by next month.  The polling officials will be given the double doses and the booster dose too as far as possible. The voting hours have also been increased by an hour.

 

The CEC further said that the number of polling stations and booths has been jacked up for easy and safe polling with the number of voters per polling booth being reduced from 1500 to 1250. All COVID appropriate measures will be enforced in all polling stations with masks, sanitizers made available there, he added. Asked about the exponential Omicron spread across the country Chandra quickly pointed out that elections are not taking place in the worst affected states like Maharashtra, West Bengal and Delhi. However, he assured, that the ECI will keep on monitoring the situations in all the poll-bound states and adopt measures as necessary.

 

The biggest positive point about the ECI briefing is that all political rallies, roadshows and processions of any sort are banned till January 15, 2022, after which the Commission would review the situation for further action, and that there shall be no victory marches after counting. The normal regulation declared during the assembly elections amid the second wave last year will continue which is that there will no rallies or gatherings of any kind from 8 pm to 8 am daily till the end of the poll schedule. Secondly, the 80+ senior citizens and COVID positive patients can vote through the postal ballots from their homes where the ECI teams would supervise. The logistics for this operation could become unmanageable depending on the situation of active cases in the concerned states. Thirdly, candidates from all parties will have to declare their criminal records publicly on newspapers and news channels and their respective political parties would require to furnish reasons to the ECI as to why tickets are given to such candidates. If implemented without government interference this may result in a most positive development to a persistent issue.

 

Another provision could’ve been a positive takeaway had the ECI made it mandatory to file nominations online. But unfortunately, the ECI has made this mode of filing nomination only optional. The CEC Sushil Chandra also said that any delay in holding the elections would’ve been undemocratic. Well, the love for democracy in our country is becoming quite selective nowadays. During the elections held last year amid the raging second wave when the vaccination was not at all adequate, a large number of polling officials and other frontline officials succumbed to COVID-19 infections. Perhaps, they all sacrificed their lives for this love for democracy. Nevertheless, this time the ECI has shown some promising moves and it’d all depend on how much guts it has to implement all these.

 

About the Omicron-led COVID-19 situation in the country it seems certain now that all the governments/authorities have accepted gratefully that Omicron is a mild virus and cannot cause any medical needs in the fully vaccinated citizens. Many states have pointed out that most medical admissions, that too not serious, have been of that of the unvaccinated while some cities boast that there has not been a single ICU case. Well, with the hospital beds still empty, medical oxygen in full supply and jabs in full swing plus booster doses already starting, they can legitimately be complacent and boast. 

No wonder, the sate of Maharashtra that registered more than 40,000 new cases in the last 24 hours, is still sitting pretty and contented. We fervently hope that they are indeed doing the right thing and that the Omicron scare disappear soon and the warnings of the supreme health authority, WHO, prove totally unwarranted. In any case, why to blame the elections only while religious festivals like the Ganga Sagar Melain West Bengal being allowed where millions of devotees across the country are taking holy dips, like they did during the Kumbh Mela last year in the peak of the second wave.

Tick-Tock Suspense In India Amid The COVID-19 Omicron Variant Scare!

Photo: jagran.com

The Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) which is an independent group of experts that periodically monitors and evaluates the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and assesses its specific mutations had convened a meeting on 26 November 2021 to assess the emerging COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529 that was first reported to World Health Organization (WHO) from South Africa on November 24, 2021. The epidemiological situation in South Africa has been characterized by three distinct peaks in reported cases, the latest of which was predominantly the Delta variant that originated in India. In recent weeks, infections have increased steeply, coinciding with the detection of B.1.1.529 variant.

This variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning. Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant, as compared to other Variants Of Concern (VOCs). The number of cases of this variant appears to be increasing in almost all provinces in South Africa. Current RT-PCR tests continue to detect this variant, pending genome sequencing confirmation.

Based on the evidence presented which is indicative of a detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology, the TAG-VE has advised WHO that this variant should be designated as a VOC, and the WHO, on Friday, has designated B.1.1.529 as a VOC, naming it as Omicron.

Countries have been asked by the global apex health body to do the following:

1. Enhance surveillance and genome sequencing efforts to better understand the circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants.

2. Submit complete genome sequences and associated metadata to a publicly available database.

3. Report initial cases/clusters associated with VOC infection to WHO through the IHR mechanism.

4. Individuals are reminded to take measures to reduce their risk of COVID-19, including proven public health and social measures such as wearing well-fitting masks, hand hygiene, physical distancing, improving ventilation of indoor spaces, avoiding crowded spaces, and getting vaccinated.

This scary warning has rudely awakened India from a comfortable slumber registering today the lowest number of active cases in over one and half years, and declining daily infections with only the state of Kerala still showing high figures in both infections and deaths. This situation is significant, because it's now more than three weeks since the biggest festival of Diwali. But the fact remains that laxity creeps in during the festive season in terms of low rates of testing, surveilance and other regulatory measures that implies that the displayed figures may not represent the reality. The most well-known and prominent expert voice, Dr. Randeep Guleria (Director, AIIMS, Delhi), has recently said in his regular interviews to news channels that this time last year too was similar, and surge of infections was taking place in Europe, and then the Delta explosion happened in India. He stressed that preparedness must always be there as we've been again watching multiple surges in Europe at the moment including Russia in particular and the possibility of the much-discussed Third Wave is still lurking in India. Now, the Omicron threat has made the situation here like a lull before the storm. 

The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, has responded immediately to WHO directions by holding a two-hour health preparedness meeting today morning. He has asked citizens to be proactive and follow all COVID norms. The Prime Minister requested the Aviation sector to review its decision to relax international air travel from December 15 this year and to test and quarantine all international travelers from countries at risk. He stressed upon the need to increase surveilance, strict containment in cluster infections and to ramp up genome sequencing, the same point being also raised by Dr. Guleria in an interview today. Modi also also asked for the full mobilization of the efforts by the states in a collective fight against the pandemic. Alerts have been issued to the health sector and the hospitals. 

The Omicron strain having more than 30 mutations within itself has already spread to countries like Belgium, Israel and Hong Kong. As it enters human bodies through the spike proteins it can be much more infectious and can evade vaccines or immunity. Almost all of the infected people in South Africa have got both doses of vaccination. However, enough data is still not there to say if this variant is deadlier than the Delta or if it can lead to severe disease, hospitalizations and deaths. As a hopeful development the Moderna vaccine producer has said that they can come ready with a booster dose in a few weeks' time to effectively tackle Omicron. 

Many European countries already under surges of Delta infections and having the irony of facing protest-demonstrations against COVID controls, and the US have started imposing travel restrictions for South Africa and other African nations. So then, it is tick-tock suspense on the future course of the pandemic in a relaxed and election bound India. Indian citizens including the politicians and the leaders themselves would be better advised to not let down their guards and follow all norms as sincerely as possible. Another disaster like the Second Wave must be avoided at all costs. One must understand the COVID-19 virus is not going to give up easily even after nearly two years, and on the contrary, this virus is busy adding more ammunition to its armour to go on launching merciless assaults on humankind. In Karnataka, there are cluster infections in students after the reopening of educational institutions and most of the infected have been double-vaccinated. It is imperative now to genome sequence their samples as intensively as possible. 

Vaccination of the under-18 should also be given the highest priority. 

 

India Register The Lowest COVID-19 Daily Cases In Six Months As The Festival Season Looms Ahead!

For the last 3-4 days India have been registering less than 30,000 daily COVID-19 cases with daily fatalities also reducing. A lot of hope is being generated now as the country has seen less than twenty thousand cases in the last 24 hours, 18,795 to be exact, which is the lowest in six months, and the daily deaths have also come down to 179 fatalities in the same period. The state of Kerala is still leading, but the daily infections that had reached more than thirty thousand recently are 11699 in the last 24 hours and the daily fatalities that had overtaken Maharashtra crossing the 200 mark have come down to 58 in the same period. Maharashtra, the worst affected state in India with over 6 million total infections, has also registered less than 3000 cases in the last 24 hours which is the lowest since February 2021 and the deaths at 32 during the same period. Only two other states, Tamil Nadu and Mizoram, are still showing a rising trend of daily cases; all of the rest of India seem to be doing well in all respects: as per a recent report of the Government of India the positivity rate is over 5% in only 23 districts of the country.

 

To add to the positive scenario the country has crossed the required 10-million mark in daily vaccine jabs for the 5^th time—recently crossing the unexpected 20-million mark on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday. However, to achieve the target of vaccinating the whole country by  December this year the rate needs to be sustained consistently on a daily basis, rather than concentrating on special days to jack up the jabs just to please the authorities examples of which could be seen in the recent past too. No doubt, the Government has been trying very hard to improve its image after the disastrous handling of the Second Wave of the Pandemic that killed hundreds of thousands of infected people, but the realities must be faced at all times in a totally non-political way. If the second wave is finally concluding the Government must ensure that the much-feared Third Wave is never allowed to take off. More than 80% of the country’s population has been given at least one jab; but the India-made Covaxin is yet to be approved by the World Health Organization for emergency use, particularly in light of the restrictions imposed rather irrationally by the United Kingdom for Indian travelers. 

There are various concerns though about the future course of the pandemic in India and if it can be controlled till early part of 2022 then only we too can be sure of being able to shake off the third wave and being assured by the ‘endemic theory’ that effectively ruled out further countrywide spread of the virus. Buoyed by the less than 5% positivity rate seen in most parts of the country, the speeded up vaccination and a new vaccine for children above the age of 12 to be available anytime soon, the states are opening up almost completely, this is being endorsed by the experts too. Quite a few of them have reopened schools and colleges and the worst-affected Maharashtra has also decided to reopen schools from 22^nd October and also reopen cinema halls/auditoriums from the same date. This combined with the looming festival season that would last till February 2022 poses as the biggest challenge for the fight against COVID-19. This is indeed going to be the litmus test. The Government of India has sounded restrictions in crowding, particularly in Durga Puja pandals, in districts where the positivity rate is still higher than 5%. However, considering the extended festivities to come we cannot rule out or be complacent about possible exponential rise again in the other states too. Therefore, the overwhelming needs remain to be strictly following COVID appropriate behaviour, avoiding big gatherings/parties and staying away from unnecessary travel or pleasure trips. The next 3-4 months are going to be crucial.