A close look at what India did right as China fails to curb COVID-19

New Delhi, Dec 23: The world is watching with caution the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases since the fiasco in China.

The virus was first reported in Wuhan following which it spread to other parts of China and then it spilt into the rest of the world. While the world grappled to get a grip over the situation, today the scenario especially in India is different as there are several tools to fight the virus.

The Indian government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done a much better job in comparison to the rest of the countries when it came to fighting COVID-19. India has several vaccines including a nasal drop. A large part of the country is fully vaccinated and cases of vaccine hesitancy was extremely less. All announcements by the government regarding COVID-19 appropriate behaviour were largely adhered and these are some of the reasons why India did so much better than the rest of the world when it came to fighting the virus.

Vaccine programme:

It was in April 2020, just two to three months into the outbreak of COVID-19 that India began its vaccine research programme. Just a year and half into the pandemic, India had two vaccines-Covishield and Covaxin. As of today, India has 12 vaccines which have been approved for use.

Usually a vaccine takes nearly 10 years to develop. However due to the combined efforts of the scientists, government and the private sector, India had developed its vaccines within a year of the first COVID-19 case being reported in the country. India launched its vaccination drive in January 2021.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for continued scientific research in testing, vaccines and pharmacological interventions. Thanks to this the world's first intra-nasal vaccine against COVID-19 was developed and was given the go-ahead for those above the age of 18 by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).

Vaccinating India:

The government spared no effort in vaccinating its citizens which comprise 1.3 billion. What appeared to be a daunting task was handled thoroughly by the government and the health-care system. While initially there were hiccups due to supply-chain issues and hesitancy these problems were overcome quickly to make the vaccination programme a huge success, unlike China where half the population seems to have not been vaccinated.

As of November 2022, India managed to set benchmark of vaccinating 88 per cent of the adult population.

In January 2021 India rolled out the vaccination programme for doctors, healthcare and frontline workers and those above the age of 60 yers and also for those above 45 with comorbidities. For the rest of the age groups, the vaccination was opened up in phases. Data as on December 2 2022 showed that 2.19 billion doses had been administered which included the first, second and booster dose.

Tracking:

Another feather in the cap is the Co-Win platform which was unveiled by Prime Minister Modi on January 16 2021. The online portal enabled citizens to book their vaccination schedule and the real-time updates on the availability of vaccines in nearby hospitals was another boon.

India also went ahead and made the portal an open source for all countries to access, adapt and use after a lot of nations had showed inclination to adopt the model.

Monitoring of lockdowns and curbs:

While the vaccination was out there, it was also important for the government to monitor the regulations such as curbs or lockdowns. The government through regular meetings with the states and announcements ensured that the COVID-19 rules were effectively tackled.

Over the past three years the government has regularly announced curbs, lockdowns and travel rules to contain the spread of COVID-19. There were also containment zones in place to monitor the spread of the infection at micro-levels. In addition to all this, the government ramped up testing.

All these measures proved that India was in a much better situation to handle the spread of the newer variants that were being reported. India in particular handled the Omicron variant well. Currently the new variant is called the Omicron variant Bf.7 and this is driving the spread of cases in China.