Vijay Kumar Gaba

The status of Covid19 may no longer be that of a pandemic anymore. A large majority of countries have seen significant decline in the number of active patients, after having experienced the peak of infection cases. The fatality rate has declined materially, especially due to acceleration in the vaccination drive.

However, in past few weeks, many countries in the world have seen reemergence of Covid19 cases in some clusters. Scientists are claiming that the rise in number of cases may be due to mutated variants of the Sars-CoV-2 virus. A fear has been expressed that we may soon see a third wave of the pandemic, primarily due to the emergence of new variants of Sars-CoV-2 virus, some of which might be immune to the vaccines available presently or the doses of vaccine being administered presently.

The pandemic has changed a lot of things in past one year. The lockdown and mobility restrictions have materially impacted our personal, social, and economic lives. There is a great deal of the discourse on how the businesses and societies must “prepare for a post Covid19 world”; much like we have learned to live with HIV – exercising precautions and restraint.

I strongly feel that post Covid19 world may be a realty in this decade. It may even take couple of decades to materialize. It would therefore be pragmatic to “prepare to live with Covid19”. In fact this thought has already started to gain currency. For example, Singapore government is reportedly “preparing its population to deal with Covid-19 as part of their daily lives and people will be able to work, travel and shop without quarantines and lockdowns, even with the coronavirus in their midst.” The Singapore administration believes that “With enough people vaccinated, Covid-19 will be managed like other endemic diseases such as the common flu and hand, foot and mouth disease” as the plans for Singapore to transition to a new normal are outlines.

"Finally, whether we can live with Covid-19 depends also on Singaporeans' acceptance that Covid-19 will be endemic and our collective behavior. If all of us shoulder the burden together - workers keeping their colleagues safe by staying at home when ill and employers not faulting them - our society will be so much safer," the ministers was quoted as saying.

I think, we In India also need to accept Covid19 as a long term companion, and prepare to live with it. The preparations must be done at the following five levels:

1.    Personal: Observe Covid19 protocols till 80% population is vaccinated, and herd immunity is achieved. It may take another 12-15 months. Till then continue to avoid non-essential travel and socializing; observe social distancing to the extent possible; and follow a healthy lifestyle to strengthen our internal immunity.

2.    Social: Accept Covid19 as a normal flu and not attach any stigma to it. Reimagine social and religious ceremonies and pilgrimages.

3.    Business Increase the investment in technology to reorient our business processes. The idea should be to institutionalize the decentralized working and adopt more collaborative work practices.

4.    Finances: Cut leverage at both personal and business level, maintain a decent level of liquidity, enhance financial and social security for ourselves and co-workers and build an emergency corpus for future natural disaster and pandemics.

5.         Governance: Include Covid19 in the normal budget. Provide for building, maintaining and improving healthcare infrastructure, keep running awareness campaigns, invest in vaccine research and innovation, and be ready for annual seasonal spikes in cases.