The News Editorial Analysis 29th November 2021

Centre tightens rules for flyers from abroad over Omicron risk

The Union Health Ministry on Sunday revised guidelines mandating that all international passengers entering India have to submit 14-day travel details and upload a negative RT-PCR test report on the Air Suvidha portal before the journey. The new guidelines will come into effect from December 1.

The RT-PCR report to be uploaded should have been conducted within 72 hours prior to the journey.Travellers from “countries at-risk”, including the U.K., South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel, will need to take the COVID test post-arrival and wait for results at the airport, according to the guidelines. If tested negative, they have to undergo home quarantine for seven days followed by a re-test on the eighth day.

“On arrival, the passengers found to be symptomatic during screening shall be immediately isolated and taken to medical facility as per health protocol. If tested positive, their contacts shall be identified and managed as per laid down protocol,” said the updated guidelines.

Travellers from countries not considered ‘at risk’ will be allowed to leave the airport and must self-monitor their health for 14 days post arrival. A sub-section (5% of the total flight passengers) will be required to undergo post-arrival testing at random at the airport.

The guidelines have also stated that children under five years of age are exempted from pre- and post-arrival testing. However, if found symptomatic on arrival or during home quarantine, they shall undergo testing and treated as per protocol.

Contacts of the suspect case are the co-passengers seated in the same row, three rows in front and three rows behind along with identified cabin crew. Also, all the community contacts of those travellers who have tested positive (during home quarantine period) would be subjected to quarantine for 14 days and tested as per government protocol.

Earlier the Central Government in a release issued following a meeting chaired by Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, said it will review “the decision on effective date of resumption of scheduled commercial international passengers service as per evolving global scenario while keeping a closer watch on emerging pandemic situation within the country.”

The meeting held to review the global situation in wake of Omicron virus was attendant by various domain experts including Dr. V K Paul, Member (Health) NITI Aayog, Dr. Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to Prime Minister and senior officers from Health, Civil Aviation and other Ministries.

It has also been decided that Airport Health Officials (APHOs) and Port Health Officials (PHOs) will be sensitized for strict supervision of testing protocol at airports/ ports, added the release.

In flight Wifi hits a dead zone in India

Three years after the Department of Telecom permitted WiFi services on commercial flights, it is yet to become a reality for domestic air travellers as airlines grapple with the huge installation costs and the impact of COVID-19 on passenger demand.

Domestic carriers have been slow in offering the service because the retrofit of aircraft with the required antenna is an expensive affair that takes nearly 12 hours. Airlines also find it difficult to pass on the costs to their customers in an extremely competitive market where passengers grab the cheapest ticket. However, international airlines such as Lufthansa, Air France and Emirates, which were already providing Internet onboard but had to switch it off on entering India, have started offering the service in Indian skies too.

“The equipment costs ₹3 crore to ₹4 crore for one aircraft, which is the entry barrier because it is difficult to recover the cost from passengers. As customers start expecting this service and airlines increasingly treat it as an amenity instead of a value-added service, in-flight connectivity will evolve and mature,” says Shivaji Chatterjee, senior vice-president, enterprise business, Hughes Communications India Private Ltd.

Those airlines that have started to offer the service are rolling it out only on new aircraft that come equipped with the antenna.

Full-service carrier Vistara is the only Indian airline to offer the service to its customers since September 2020.But the airline with a fleet of 50 offers the service only on four Airbus A321 Neos and two Boeing 787-9s that are used for international flights as these are new jets that come fitted with the equipment.

The service is available free of cost for all passengers till December 7 and users can send messages, e-mails and surf the Net.“Streaming through platforms like Netflix is not offered. Moreover, we switch off the Internet if we use these planes on domestic routes,” according to the airline’s spokesperson. The airline also doesn’t allow any form of voice or video calls through WiFi Internet connectivity to ensure there is no discomfort to other passengers.

Back in October 2018, while taking the delivery of its first Boeing 737 MAX 8 that also come fitted with an antenna and other paraphernalia, low-cost airline SpiceJet said it would be the first airline to offer passengers internet services. Five months later, the aircraft were grounded globally following two crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia that killed over 300 people.

The airline’s Chairman and Manging Director Ajay Singh told reporters at an event held to celebrate the resumption of Boeing 737 MAX 8 flights last week that it now plans to offer WiFi services on its aircraft from January 2022.

“Passengers will be able to receive WhatsApp messages, check mails, but we will disable audio because we don’t want to allow calls as they cause inconvenience to other passengers,” Mr. Singh said. The airline has 13 Boeing MAX 8 planes in its fleet, and will be inducting another 50 over the next two years.The pandemic too has dented the appetite of airlines to innovate with new passenger amenities.“What has happened is that since the regulation came into place, the pandemic has hit the industry. Airlines are struggling to get their flights back to normal and get consumer demand back to normal, which may take another one or two years,” explains Mr. Chatterjee.

57 norovirus cases confirmed in Thrissur

Norovirus infection has been confirmed in 57 people, including 54 students and three workers, in the hostel of St. Mary’s College, Thrissur.

Health officials suspect that the infection might have spread through food or drinking water distributed in the hostel.

At present, there are 240 students and 15 workers in the hostel. A team of health officials led by the district medical officer (DMO) N.K. Kuttappan examined the hostel and surroundings, the kitchen and drinking water supply.

Students have been complaining about symptoms such as diarrhoea, vomiting, nausea and fever from November 8, according to the college authorities. But nobody suspected it as norovirus infection.

Eight students went for treatment at the Thrissur General Hospital on November 24. Their blood, faeces and urine samples were tested for bacteria and virus. Norovirus infection was confirmed in the tests done at the virology laboratory in Alappuzha.

The health team conducted an awareness programme for students and workers of the college and gave instruction for taking preventive measures. The Health Department has taken sufficient precautions to check the spread of the infection, the DMO said.

The college authorities have been asked not to send students to their homes until the virus infection is totally cured. It is suspected that some of the students, who had symptoms earlier had gone to their houses. The Health Department has asked the hostel authorities to alert them.

Health officials told the people not to panic. As it is a virus that can spread from human beings to other human beings, people should be careful, they said.

People have been asked to drink only boiled water. Hands should be washed properly after using the washroom. Vegetables and fruits should be washed properly before using, do not share food or vessels.

The DMO has asked the medical team to monitor hostels, old age homes and migrant labour camps in the district. This is the first time norovirus infection has been reported from Thrissur.

According to available information, norovirus is a highly contagious virus and spreads through contaminated food, water and surfaces. Close contact with the infected person too can spread the virus. Infection usually occurs in closed and crowded environments.

Though in most cases, infection lasts for only two or three days, pregnant women, infants, elderly people and people with low immunity may have to take medical support.

Questionable criterion

The SC is right in asking for basis on which Centre fixed income limit for EW

S quota

The questions raised by the Supreme Court of India about the criteria for identifying the ‘Economically Weaker Sections’ (EWS) for the purpose of granting reservation are quite apposite. Faced with sharp questions that it could not answer satisfactorily, the Union government has obtained time to reconsider the criteria, especially the income norm that only those from a family with annual income less than ₹8 lakh can avail of the 10% reservation earmarked for the EWS category. It is now a settled principle that quantifiable data or proof of a detailed study are required to justify any category of reservation, as well as the norms that determine which section gets it and which does not. In this backdrop, it is logical that the Court would want to know whether there was any study before the Centre prescribed the norms for identifying EWS beneficiaries based on indicators of economic disadvantage. The enquiry by the three-judge Bench is necessarily circumscribed by the fact that the validity of the 103rd Constitution Amendment, through which the EWS quota was introduced in 2019, is before a Constitution Bench. In the ongoing proceedings, the Bench is considering the validity of the 27% quota for Other Backward Classes (OBC) and 10% for Economically Weaker Sections introduced for admission to the All-India Quota (AIQ) of seats in medical admissions throughout the country. It has clarified that it is not examining any policy issue, but wants to determine if constitutional requirements have been complied with.

The income criterion is undoubtedly an anomalous aspect of the EWS quota. An annual income of ₹8 lakh is the limit beyond which an OBC family would fall under the ‘creamy layer’ and will be denied reservation. The same income figure is being used as the ceiling for identifying EWS. The moot question is whether those who do not face the impediments that come with social and educational backwardness can be equated with those who do. However, the current proceeding will only decide the validity of OBC and EWS reservation in admissions under the AIQ. It must be noted that the introduction of OBC quota in AIQ only brings the admission norms in line with prevailing policy. OBC reservation is applicable to admissions done separately by the Union and State governments in their respective medical institutions, but it was not implemented all these years for all-India quota seats. This pool is formed by the surrender of 15% of undergraduate seats and 50% of PG seats by the States. The absence of OBC quota in this category was an anomaly that has now been rectified. The larger issue that remains is whether reservation can be treated as a poverty alleviation measure and those not well-off but belonging to socially advanced communities can be given a share of the reservation pie. The Constitution Bench should resolve this question early.

COP26 pledges need a new climate of cooperation

Developing economies such as India are burdened with other issues and require the help of the developed North

As world leaders converged in Glasgow for the COP26 (October 31-November 12, 2021), there were some notable absentees. The Presidents of China and Russia, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, leaders of the world’s second and fourth largest carbon emitters, failed to make it to Glasgow. Hence, understandably, all eyes fell upon India, the world’s third largest carbon emitter, and which included what kind of commitment Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be making.

There was cautious optimism when India finally announced its net zero target, even though India’s pledged deadline is 2070 – two decades after than the desired deadline of the year 2050. After the net zero target, the United States and Europe led the next biggest climate goal, the Global Methane Pledge, to bring down global methane levels significantly by 2030; this was signed by as many as 104 countries. Despite being the third-largest methane emitter, India was not signatory. India also was not part of the pledge to deforestation despite hosting the world’s largest contiguous mangrove forest: the Sundarbans.

The COVID-19 pandemic that hit in early 2020 further pushed down GDP growth, severely impacting several industries. Scarce resources are being used for economic survival. The Government is desperately trying to aid its economy by subsidising various industries during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as vaccinating its population to prevent another wave as worse as the COVID-19 Delta variant wave that had hit India earlier. The country is going through a resource constraint, having to choose between priorities. If powerful developing economies such as India are to play a constructive role in tackling climate change and achieving net zero target, the developed North needs to shore up its support by taking a common responsibility to help developing countries and LDCs to pursue climate goals as they already face the daunting tasks of fighting poverty, providing basic health-care services, and ensuring access to education. People without food when they are hungry, medicine and doctors when they are ill, and schools for their children cannot be expected to either relate or appreciate the adversities of climate change being debated in a place and country which most of them have not even heard of and leaders they hardly know.

What the Omicron variant means for India

It could pose a threat to progress made in the COVID-19 fight, but additional information is needed

The continued decline in COVID-19 cases following the intense second wave in India has led to hope that a return to normalcy might be near. Across the country, emboldened by the fact that the festival season did not lead to a steep rise in cases, restrictions have eased and public behaviour is largely returning to normal.

Situation now

The low number of cases currently in India, even as cases are rising across much of Europe, appears largely attributable to two factors. First, seroprevalence studies indicate that a large proportion of the population has already been exposed to the virus providing some level of protection to subsequent infections. Second, the immunisation campaign has gained momentum. Approximately 44% of Indian adults have been fully vaccinated and 82% have received at least one dose. What is more, scientists believe that prior infection followed by one or two doses of vaccination may have a larger protective effect than two doses of the vaccination alone.

While vaccine-derived protection against symptomatic infection is expected to decay with time, current research suggests that breakthrough infections in fully vaccinated individuals are reduced in intensity and duration, compared to cases in individuals who have not been vaccinated. This holds for the Delta variant as well. Other variants have raised concerns but none of them has appeared to be significantly more worrying than the Delta variant, at least until now.

What WHO says

A new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was recently identified in Botswana. Called the Omicron variant, early evidence suggests that it may be responsible for the steep rise of cases in the Gauteng province of South Africa. In this region, 90% of samples from the past few weeks have been of the Omicron variant. This variant has a large number of mutations. Some of them are cause for serious concern because they may allow the new variant to evade immunity obtained from a past infection or via a vaccine. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently labelled this variant as a ‘variant of concern’.

While the emergence of the new variant is concerning and requires extreme vigilance, there are several questions that remain unanswered at the moment. Is the variant more transmissible? Can it evade the immune system? And is the variant associated with more severe disease outcomes?

The possibility of a new, more transmissible variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has, of course, been the principal worry of epidemiologists. Some other recent variants, with a more limited repertoire of mutations, have raised concerns briefly, but have not risen to the level of being named a variant of concern so far. What is concerning here is that cases of the new variant have risen so sharply as to suggest that it may far outstrip the Delta variant in its ability to infect people. There are no reliable estimates of just how much more transmissible the Omicron variant is compared to previous strains of the virus. But even crude calculations suggest it could be much larger than for those strains.

When new variants can evade immunity obtained through immunisation and prior infections, there is a greater chance for breakthrough cases and further transmission. WHO has recommended studies to understand the degree to which the immune system is evaded by the Omicron variant. This is a key question for India given the high proportion of individuals with some level of immunity, mostly from infection. If these mutations do lead to greater immune escape, vaccines and treatments like monoclonal antibodies might need to be reformulated.

Where did the Omicron variant come from? Viruses mutate all the time and SARS-CoV-2 is no exception. What is unusual is the very large number of mutations that the Omicron variant has accumulated. This is likely a consequence of a chronic infection in an immunocompromised patient, such as one infected with HIV. A strong immune response can ultimately eliminate the virus. However, in a weakened immune system the virus will continue to multiply and mutate, changing its form to evade immune response. Given this, prioritising the elderly and immunocompromised for a future additional dose would make sense.

While a number of nations have already closed their doors to travellers from South Africa, epidemiologists worldwide recognise that these measures can only offer temporary relief. Given that a case was found in Hong Kong in a traveller from South Africa a full four days into a mandatory quarantine, and that this patient may have infected another individual who turned positive some days later, it seems very likely that cases may have already crossed borders without being detected. Israel has also reported cases, with one of them, a 32-year-old woman, already triple vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine before testing positive. The symptoms in this case were mild.

Promote vaccination

As long as the virus circulates, the possibility remains that new variants could emerge. The best option is to reduce case numbers. For this, vaccination is an especially powerful tool. Even a single dose of vaccine can reduce dramatically the risk of hospitalisation or a worse outcome; two doses do even better. However, the current inequity in vaccine distribution means that this means of control is out of reach of most in lower and middle-income countries. While many rich countries are now arranging for booster doses to safeguard their populations, even younger and less vulnerable individuals, this policy comes at the cost of the rest of the world, where vaccine coverage remains abysmally low. More than 60 countries have vaccinated less than 25% of their population, including South Africa. It is these regions that hold the most potential for a new, more transmissible variant. Equity in the distribution of vaccines is an urgent global public health need, quite apart from being ethically and morally the right thing to do.

The Director of the Wellcome Trust, Sir Jeremy Farrar, has in a tweet, said, “South Africa needs to be praised, offered whatever support is needed and acknowledged for the quality of speed of public health and genomic science in South Africa, sharing the data immediately, supporting the region and the world….” We concur and urge that India and other countries should learn from the South African experience, making its data available in real time for the world to study, and exhibiting the highest levels of transparency. At present, we do not know enough about the variant to truly understand the potential risk that it might pose, but — as with all such things — preparing adequately for an uncertain future is key.

Rajya Sabha floor leaders express annoyance at Justice Ramana’s comment

Supreme Court Chief Justice has complained about lack of debate in Parliament at a function

Floor leaders of the Rajya Sabha at a meeting with Chairman Venkaiah Naidu ahead of the winter session of Parliament that begins on Monday, expressed concern over the Supreme Court Chief Justice’s recent remarks on disruptions in Parliament.

Chief Justice N.V. Ramana, speaking at the 75th Independence Day function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association, complained about lack of debate in Parliament. He said it is a “sorry state of affairs” and that absence of quality debate leaves many aspects of the laws unclear, increasing the burden on the court.

The floor leaders said it is for the Presiding Officers to take appropriate action if the norms of functioning are being violated in the legislatures and other constitutional agencies should not comment adversely, sources said. They did not, however, name Justice Ramana.

In response, Chairman Naidu said, “I can understand your concerns. But such comments should be viewed in the context of the functioning of legislatures marked by persistent disruptions, unruly behaviour and violent actions which have deleterious effects. The best way to counter them is to ensure proper functioning of the legislatures by ensuring their dignity and decorum since such comments are finding resonance with the public from what they see about the functioning of the legislatures.”

About 40 leaders of various parties and Ministers attended the meeting.

A few Opposition leaders —BJD’s Prasanna Acharya, BSP Satish Chandra Mishra, CPI(M) John Brittas and CPI Binoy Viswam expressed concern over the course of events during the last monsoon session. They also said a repeat of the monsoon session should be avoided.

As per the RS Secretariat’s analysis, 70% of the functional time of the House was lost due to persistent disruptions.

Mr. Naidu urged the Government and the leaders of the Opposition to regularly talk to each other to enable effective functioning of the House. He appealed to all sections to cooperate in ensuring a productive winter session.

The News Editorial Analysis 27th November 2021