(File photo) This handout image by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), shows a colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (red) heavily infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (yellow), isolated from a patient sample captured at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. New variants, experts say, can do that better. (Photo by Handout / National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases / AFP)
July 1, 2021: The first factor is that the fearsome Delta variant has only just begun. The second factor is that a lot more humans, politicians in power included, couldn’t care less now because extremely-bad economy is biting so hard.
That is why the ongoing race for survival between the coronavirus and human beings is entering the most crucial juncture yet. Vaccines are doing their best, but so is the virus in its attempt to fly under the radar. Delta, which has started to hit hard in many parts of the world, underlines the virus’ effort to gain strategic upper-hand and the worst news is that the devastating mutations are just the beginning and a lot more is to come.
The evolution to achieve quicker, more widespread and easier transmissibility has been helped by the “pandemic fatigue” of human beings, which is spreading through many politicians, ordinary people whose economic life has been upended, and “what-the-hell” entrepreneurs. No matter how scary the situations are, the will to keep the guards extremely up is not as strong as before. Warnings against “complacency” are currently not as loud as cries from economic pain.
Good news is that current vaccines can still tame Delta, but bad news is that their unavailability in many parts of the world is a great window for the variants to regroup, further mutate and then attack with fresh force and armoury. As the World Health Organisation says: “No human is safe until all humans are safe.”
