Rise in covid cases: Endemic or not?

The latest 24-hour period has seen a minor dip in India’s new covid cases to 5,357 after recording more than 6,000 new infections in each of the previous two days. Our seven-day rolling daily average was 4,094 on 8 April, and it has been on an uptrend. Haryana, Kerala and Puducherry have brought back covid protocols, including mask-wearing. The blame can be pinned on the XBB1.16 sub-variant of Omicron. While the Sars-CoV-2 virus is evolving to be more infectious but less dangerous, as theory predicts, people with co-morbidities remain at risk. Also, its Delta shift of 2021 was aberrative in being both catchier and more harmful, so its evolution can take a random turn for the worse. Indian health authorities have rightly gone into a preparatory mode in case covid breaks out of its endemic pattern and poses a big scare again. Since this is a low-probability event, nobody should overreact. Covid will always be with us. It’s only when it threatens to upturn our routines that heavy action may be required. Masks are not too much of a bother. And social distancing should be practised in urban areas with rising cases. Right now, the data doesn’t call for anything more than that.