Lancet blames Centre for current coronavirus crisis in India

New Delhi : An editorial in Lancet has blamed the Central government for ongoing coronavirus crisis in India, saying that it ignored warnings and allowed "superspreader" religious and political events and slowing down the vaccination campaign.

According to the editorial, the Centre gave expression that it has successfully beaten COVID-19 despite Sero survey that mentioned only 21% of the Indian population was exposed to coronavirus.

"Despite warnings about the risks of superspreader events, the government allowed religious festivals to go ahead, drawing millions of people from around the country, along with huge political rallies—conspicuous for their lack of Covid-19 mitigation measures. The message that Covid-19 was essentially over also slowed the start of India’s Covid-19 vaccination campaign, which has vaccinated less than 2% of the population. At the federal level, India’s vaccination plan soon fell apart," the editorial said.

The editorial also claimed that the government ignored several warnings about second wave in the nation and the result is that the nation is suffering.

"Before the second wave of cases began to mount in early March, Indian Minister of Health Harsh Vardhan declared that India was in the “endgame” of the epidemic. The impression from the government was that India had beaten Covid-19 after several months of low case counts, despite repeated warnings of the dangers of a second wave and the emergence of new strains. Modelling suggested falsely that India had reached herd immunity, encouraging complacency and insufficient preparation," the editorial said.

It suggested that the government must take the responsibility of current situation.

The news editorial comes at a time when India is reporting more than 4 lakh cases daily from past couple of days. On Sunday, the total cases reached 22,289,452, with 403,196 new cases. The death toll has reached 242,273.