By the end of this month, we will have lived with Covid-19 for exactly two years, the first case of the global viral disease having been detected here in March 2020.
Tragically, 16,000 of our fellow citizens had succumbed to the virus by now. But there is a silver lining t00 – an astonishing 600,000 have recovered from the disease in the same period. Globally, close to six million have perished, while over 440 million have been afflicted.
Although there is a raging debate on the origin of the virus, first detected in Wuhan, China, it is believed to be Zoonotic in origin (transmission of viruses from animal to human). The past two years have seen the world battling several incarnations of the virus, starting with the original Alpha strain.
Then came the deadlier Delta version, which caused a large number of deaths, including here in Sri Lanka. Now we are grappling with the Omicron strain, though by all accounts, it is far less deadly.
But unlike during the previous global pandemic (Spanish Flu of 1918-21), the world has a new weapon to fight the disease, vaccines. Scientists designed Covid vaccines no sooner the Chinese academics published the genetic sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus that causes Covid in January 2020.
The vaccines were approved for emergency use in record time (just 11 months) by the US Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization. Today, there are around six successful vaccines in use around the world, including those based on all-new technologies such as mRNA. They have prevented millions of deaths and hospitalisations.
Sri Lanka was among the first developing nations to deploy vaccines. The public lined up enthusiastically to get the shots in the first two rounds, though only around seven million have so far come forward for the booster (third) dose possibly due to the influence of misinformation about the Pfizer vaccine on social media. In any case, Sri Lanka is hopeful of achieving the goal of vaccinating 70 percent of the population with all three doses, when herd immunity generally comes into play.
With that goal in sight, it is not too early to think about an exit strategy from the pandemic. In other words, we must now learn to live with Covid. We must also be aware that different scenarios are being played out in various countries – Hong Kong and South Korea are battling a huge Omicron wave while many countries in Europe have relaxed most Covid restrictions. Even pro-lockdown Australia and New Zealand have opened up their borders now.
It goes without saying that the virus is highly unpredictable – it is evolving in real time and one cannot dismiss the possibility of another variant emerging that could be more lethal than Delta. The very fact that much of the developing world remains unvaccinated gives an opportunity for the virus to mutate and spawn new variants. But as things stand here, we can certainly see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella has ordered the further relaxation of certain Covid health protocols and medical specialists including the Director General of Health Services Dr. Asela Gunawardena have said that even the mask rule can go possibly by year end if current case numbers are reduced further.
This is a step in the right direction, because the people are tired of all the restrictions after two long years. Again, caution is the keyword here and we should not rush into any premature decisions.
But we can take a leaf out of the playbook of countries that have already published their Covid exit strategies. While some countries such as the United Kingdom have abruptly ended health restrictions almost overnight, that is too extreme a stance to take. In this backdrop, the exit plan recently announced by US President Joe Biden seems to be a far more prudent approach.
The White House on Wednesday released a sweeping new 96-page plan on Covid, marking a new era in the pandemic in which the virus is still circulating but can hopefully be managed so that more people can return to daily life without disruption.
This exit strategy has five main pillars: Testing, Treatment, Prevention and Vaccination, Preparations for Future Variants and the Management of Long Covid. Granted, the two countries are vastly different in most ways but there are plenty of things we can glean and learn from this strategy.
We have argued in these spaces the need to ramp up testing and to make self-testing kits available to the public. It is also necessary to increase facilities for the genomic sequencing of swab samples so that the spread of variants can be gauged.
Vaccination should be boosted –literally – with a powerful mainstream media blitz to debunk conspiracy theories on vaccines.
It is also necessary to procure enough supplies of the latest antiviral pills such as Pfizer’s Paxlovid, which reduces the risk of hospitalisation by about 90 percent, while ensuring adequate supplies of masks and PPE kits for a future emergency.
The Government should also reconstitute the Covid Task Force or form a similar new body to tackle any future variants or pandemics.
There has been minimal discussion in Sri Lanka on Long Covid, a post-Covid syndrome that can manifest as shortness of breath, brain fog, fatigue, joint pains and other debilitating conditions. It is vital to establish centres and clinics that help patients with Long Covid.
It is only through a holistic approach that takes all these factors into account that we will be able to see the back of this global scourge.