Carried out in June and July, after our grisly second wave had begun to ebb, its sample of 28,975 included under-18s for the first time. For herd immunity to kick in, a condition must be met: enough people around should get virus-resistant before the covid-exposure risk of anyone who is not immune drops off. What marked India’s second wave out was its Delta proliferation, with this mutant likelier to escape an antibody attack on it than other versions, and the pathogen’s mutation path remains unknown. One study said households had spent over ₹64,000 crore on tests and hospital bills between last April and this June. Our health crisis is not over, sadly, and the ICMR study provides no reason at all to relax.

Source: Mint July 21, 2021 16:18 UTC