International medical journal The Lancet has criticised the Indian government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and called for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration to own “up to its mistakes.”
“[PM] Modi’s actions in attempting to stifle criticism and open discussion during the crisis are inexcusable,” The Lancet said in an editorial.
Lancet blamed 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.
Dr Lalit Kant, former head of epidemiology division at the ICMR, said he agreed with the editorial. “The government should take responsibility for the situation we are in.”
Meanwhile, for the second day in a row, India registered more than 4,000 daily Covid-19 fatalities on Sunday, taking the cumulative death toll to 242,362. More than 4 lakh new cases were also recorded, which pushed the infection tally to 22,296,414.
