The Hindu Editorial Analysis : 22th December 2022

22/12/2022

Table of Contents

The Hindu Editorial Analysis

We all are aware of the importance of reading The Hindu newspaper with the aspect of improving reading ability, easily comprehending paragraphs, getting updated with the current events, improving essay writing and many more. For a banking aspirant it becomes necessary to read editorials for vocabulary. In this article we are going to discuss the points of today’s editorials with practice questions and important vocabs.

Concerning sequence.

The spurt in coronavirus cases reported out of China has triggered global alarm.

India’s health ministry has issued a directive to states to send positive samples to India SARS-COV-2 .
Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) to check for new, concerning strains.
The health minister,too, has called for a review meeting of the coronavirus situation in India.
India’s official numbers suggest that , thus far, there is little worry.
There are only 3,408 active cases.
Only one district has a test positivity rate of over 10% and only four between 5 and 10% , as per the latest available weekend data.
India’s Covid-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 219.33 crore ,and there are no signs of distress being reported out of hospitals.
However, the experience of previous years is that it is usually many weeks after which a noticeable spike, let alone a wave,is confirmed by the health ministry.
There is scarce monitoring and mask mandates for public gathering airports and railway stations have been removed everywhere so low numbers do not necessarily mean new variants are not taking root.
In China, despite reports of crowded mortuaries, hospital admissions piling up and stocked-out pharmacies, weekly death counts are officially in the single digits.

The prevalent opinion is that the lifting of curbs, after almost three years of some of the most restrictive containment measures, has now exposed a large swathe of people who lack ‘natural immunity’.

Some mathematical modeling projections calculate a million Covid-19 cases in the coming days in China.
Given that much of the world has moved to normalcy in terms of travel, the concern is that this surge is likely to reverberate globally with many more infections even in India inevitable.
There are two key lessons that can be derived from the Chinese experience: long lockdown cannot eliminate the virus or prevent the development of new strains, and the only reasonable defense possible against severe disease is disease via vaccine.
China has largely depended on homegrown vaccines such as CoronaVac and Sinopharm vaccines that rely on the inactivated virus technology. Despite 90% of the population receiving a single dose, and half, a second dose, the numbers in China suggest that waning immunity is a fait accompli.

Practice Questions:

What are the two key lessons that can be derived from China’s method of prevention?
What notice that the Ministry of Health has recently released?
What is the new variant that is found in India and other countries?

Important Vocabs:

Rely- to need somebody/something and not be able to live or work properly without him/her
Spurt- to come out quickly with great force
Scarce- not existing in large quantities
Mortuary- a room, usually in a hospital, where dead bodies are kept before they are buried or burned
Inevitable- that cannot be avoided or prevented from happening