India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI—A top Indian scientist has revealed that repeated warnings about contagious variants of coronavirus were ignored and COVID appropriate behaviour was violated by holding huge election rallies.
In an interview with The Wire, Dr. Rakesh Mishra, who is the director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, and member of Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genome Sequencing Consortia (INSACOG), said the expert advisory panel had formally warned the government of its “high concern” that new and more contagious variants of coronavirus were taking hold of the country.
He said it was very likely that Covid cases and deaths would increase exponentially.
“This concern was raised when we were detecting new variants. We were detecting UK variants in the airport and some in the community. I understand that these minutes are seen by appropriate or relevant people in the health ministry. Now I can’t say that we have sent in writing – where I am signatory – of warning. But our finding of the variants is really a kind of warning that we are heading towards a worse situation because these are new variants…and we don’t know them,” he said.
Mishra said because the meeting content is conveyed to the government through NCDC. “All the press notes…they have a system to follow, so I think there’s a channel and I think it must be going through the Secretary, Health, but I may be wrong on that point,” he said.
Asked specifically about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comment on April 17 when he applauded the size of the crowd at a political rally in Bengal, Mishra said: “That’s very unfortunate. These kinds of things were happening. Election and rallies. Rallies were later called off. This should have been done earlier. We will be seeing more trouble coming because of these rallies. The result of this exposure will come after a couple of weeks”.
On comments made by the health minister of Assam that the people do not need to wear masks, the ministers saying don’t wear masks is not acceptable.
“I mean I can only say that the same God has given us a brain and to do what is appropriate. Ministers saying don’t wear masks, I don’t think is acceptable. I just cannot imagine anybody on a public platform can say don’t wear a mask whereas that is the only thing that can save us. How much damage will be caused by this pandemic will depend on how well we use masks, nothing else is as important today,” he said.
To a question about the chief minister of Uttarakhand saying faith in God and the power of Mother Ganga would protect people at the `shahi snans’, Mishra said: “No one on public platforms should say this. God has also given us a brain to think and do what is appropriate”.
On Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s response on political rallies, Mishra said, “He was not given proper feedback or information. The virus does not care whether it is election rally, religious gathering or bar, or restaurant. If anyone is infected in the gathering, the virus will jump”.
Speaking about the two variant strains spreading in India, Mishra said 80 to 90% of the cases in Punjab and 40% of the cases in Delhi are caused by variant B.1.1.7. He said it is definitely more transmissible than the original virus but less infectious than the B.1.1.7 variant.
