How India managed to contain COVID-19 better than China?

Hybrid immunisation is working in favour of India though the country needs to maintain a complete vigil on this front.

New Delhi, Dec 14: While China is still grappling with COVID-19 pandemic even three years after it started spreading its tentacles, India has managed to control the disease and reduce the number of cases to a negligible level in the country.

Last month, China reported a rare protest as the angry citizens took to the streets to express their anguish against the government's zero-COVID policy. Unlike India, there is no scope for dissent in the communist-ruled country. With the Xi Jinping government continuing its stringent policy, the daily life of its citizens has been paralysed, leading to sporadic protests.

But what the world witnessed through the leaked videos was something nobody had expected. As the situation started going out of control, the authorities relaxed the restrictions earlier this month. As on December 11, mainland China had registered 3,65,312 news COVID-19 cases with symptoms. With the government easing the restrictions, some researchers have predicted that the country might witness over 2 million deaths.

In a paper published by the Shanghai Journal of Preventive Medicine, Zhou Jiatong, head of the Center for Disease Control in southwestern Guangxi region, claimed that mainland China might suffer over 2 million deaths if the tough COVID curbs are done away. He has predicted that the cases could rise to more than 233 million, according to a Reuters report.

On the other hand, there is India which has manufactured its own vaccination and has administered around a mammoth 220 crore vaccines to its citizens. It includes almost 103 crore first doses, about 95 crore second doses and over 22 crore precautionary doses.

Why no spurt in cases in India

According to the COVID-19 Working Group NTAGI Chairman NK Arora, hybrid immunisation is working in favour of India, although he has cautioned that the country should still remain vigilant.

"I would say, we need to maintain a complete vigil on the quality of genetic surveillance as part of INSACOG. We have been discussing this for three years in India but during the last three months, the cases have gradually come down and it is less than around 500-600 cases every day. Although 2,00,000 tests are being done every day and deaths are between 5 to 10 every day and sometimes even no deaths are reported. Most of these deaths are in the regions with co-morbidity and an incidental finding of COVID infection," the news agency quoted him as saying.

"India isn't getting affected even after South Asian countries reporting several cases because of the hybrid immunisation. There is an outbreak of an increase in the number of cases in several South Asian countries as well as China, Japan, and Australia. Fortunately, 97 percent of our adult population has got two doses. Most of us have got natural infections. So there is a hybrid immunisation and we are not seeing any serious outcome," he added.

On the other hand, the vaccination China has given to its citizens has not been very effective. A study by the University of Hong Kong lowered the Chinese vaccines' effectiveness, limiting it to just 60 per cent, a report said. It further revealed that those vaccinated with Sinovac were three times more vulnerable to die compared to those inoculated with the German Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, reported Asian Lite International. The World Health Organisation has recommended in the past to give 3-dose regimen for the people aged 60 and older as the two doses cannot be enough protection.

Like India, China did not vaccinate elderly first, rather it preferred the working class. Also, only 69 per cent of those aged 60 and above were given only two jabs. This has given rise to the number of fatalities in the country.