By Elishya Perera
NEW DELHI (CU)_Over the last year, the COVID-19 pandemic overtook India, raising fears that it would shatter the country’s fragile health system. However, while many countries across the world continue to battle the dramatic surge in infections, especially with the detection of new variants of the virus, India, meanwhile, has begun to experience a significant drop in the number of cases and deaths reported.
Compared with a peak of nearly 100,000 new cases last year, now the South Asian country is reporting about 11,000 infections a day, which has left experts quite puzzled. In November last year, when the recorded number of infections crossed 9 million, it was reported that nearly 90 percent of all critical care beds with ventilators in the capital city of New Delhi were full. In contrast, on Thursday (Feb 11), only 16 per cent of these beds were occupied.
This success however, cannot be attributed to vaccinations, since the South Asian nation only began administering shots in January this year.
The Indian government is partly attributing the drop in new cases to mask-wearing, which is mandatory in public in India, and violations would result in hefty fines in some cities.
Some experts, on the other hand, suggest the sudden drop may be owing to the possibility that certain areas in the country would have reached herd immunity, or that Indians may have some pre-existing protection from the virus.
Nevertheless, experts have warned that even if herd immunity has been achieved in some areas, yet, the population as a whole remains vulnerable, as research suggest that people who have been infected with one strain of the virus could be re-infected with a different variant.
On the other hand, experts also point out to the possibility that as many Indians have been exposed to a variety of diseases throughout their lives, such as cholera, tuberculosis and cholera, this exposure may have equipped the body with stronger immunity to respond to COVID.
Despite this significant drop in infections, the rise of new variants have added another challenge to the country’s battle against the virus, and therefore, experts have warned people to not let down their guard.
Meanwhile, scientists are attempting to determine the cause of the drop in infections, which would help authorities contain the virus which has so far infected nearly 11 million people in India, while 156,000 virus-induced deaths have also been reported in the country.
