The Covid menace and 2021 polls

The United Kingdom is causing a lot of concern throughout the world over the new strain of Covid-19 that has emerged in it of late. This one is said to be a 'super spreader' and dangerous to contain. Several countries are withdrawing air services to and from the UK. Other countries and territories to announce restrictions on UK travel include Hong Kong, Israel, Iran, Croatia, Argentina, Chile, Morocco and Kuwait.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is taking stock of the situation as a huge backlog builds up on the border with France after even trucks and ferries were blocked at the ports. European Union (EU) member states are gearing up to hold a meeting in Brussels to discuss a more coordinated response as the number of coronavirus infections in the UK jumped to 35,928 on Sunday, down to the much faster spreading new mutation of the novel coronavirus, with the country's death toll rising by 326 to hit 67,40. Meanwhile, asking people not to panic, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Monday said the government was on alert about the new strain of coronavirus that has emerged in the United Kingdom. Whether India country would again go under a lockdown is not yet known. But, if the situation demands, there is every possibility of the same happening. After all, this is winter and if a new strain of the virus lands here, we will have an emergency on hand.

So far, more than one crore and 55 thousand people have been infected with the virus. With 333 deaths reported on Sunday, the toll touched 1,45,810. There are as many as 3.03 lakh active cases in the country, while 96,06,111 people have recovered from the disease. Kerala is the only state to report more than 5,000 cases. As for the vaccine, one is only hopeful of its availability by early next year.

The effectiveness of the vaccines to be launched or already launched like that of Pfizer is not established fully. In other news, even as India's top regulator asked three vaccine manufacturers for additional data on late-stage trials to consider clearing their candidates for emergency use, Vardhan on Sunday said he "personally" believed India could be in a position to begin administering the vaccine "maybe" next month.

A major concern for us is our elections. Five States, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and Assam will go to polls next year. As is known to all, our elections are a messy one and no one will be following any Covid-19 protocols or norms to prevent its spread.

Moreover, the democratic competition only means rivalling the others with bigger rallies and meetings. Then we have the tendency to fudge statistics and hide the truth. There is also little chance of the State governments heeding to the advice of the Centre as usual. The election heat will only make things more complicated. India may be doing well as of now as far as the coronavirus is concerned. But, the tendency to relax quickly is in our DNA. The government should wake up and warn the people of the consequences more stridently. Prevention is always better than cure!