It's time to prepare for Covid 3rd wave while tackling the 2nd one

To say that "India as a country is going through harrowing times now" is a gross understatement. Though India tackled the first wave with a prolonged, economically debilitating lockdown, the Covid 2.0 which is currently underway in the country is showing to the world what the Chinese-born novel coronavirus is capable of doing.

On Sunday, India witnessed a staggering 4.03 lakh new Covid-19 cases and 4,092 fatalities. With this, the total case count reached 2.23 crore and total deaths stood at 2.42 lakh. And the counting continues. It is the fifth time since May 1 that the country's new case load crossed the 4-lakh mark. Death rate is also increasing by the day.

Some experts see India's total Covid toll at 10 lakh by August, a four-fold jump from the current levels if the pandemic trajectory continues the way it's now. But nobody expected India to land in such a Covid mess two months ago. Our country registered its first coronavirus case way back in January 2020. Covid cases in India came down towards the end of 2020 and continued their downward journey even in the early months of 2021.

But the second wave that began in March has been devastating the country, devouring lives and livelihoods. Overwhelming the country like a tsunami, it exposed chinks in India's already weak healthcare system as the country stared at the shortage of hospital beds, medical oxygen and key medicines like Remdesivir used for the treatment of Covid-19. India is considered by many countries as the pharmacy of the world.

We are also leaders in vaccine production. But surprisingly, India failed on both the fronts. While the shortage of medical oxygen and medicines showed how unprepared India was for the deadly second wave, the slow vaccination process exposed the lack of foresight on the part of the leadership at the national level as well as in the States.

Even as the country is still grappling with the deadly second wave, experts already sounded alarm bells about the third wave. Some say it will infect children in a big way. That's worrisome, so say the least. As the coronavirus is spawning new mutants with every passing day, it's very difficult now to know how the third wave is going to be and which mutants will play havoc with our lives.

But the country's leadership should learn a lesson from the debacle in dealing with the second wave and prepare the country for the third wave in advance. Otherwise, India will go through a bigger, more painful tragedy in the coming months. So, it's time for our rulers to focus on the preparations for the third wave instead of indulging in political one-upmanship. That can only save the country from another Covid catastrophe.