Project CHAAV: Helping hand for community healthcare workers

Abstract

COVID-19 is a worldwide pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndromeCoronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). As of August 2022, India has the second-highest number of total confirmed cases in the world (after the United States of America) with over 44Mn reported cases of COVID-19 and the third highest number of deaths at 527000 deaths. The few initial cases of COVID-19 in India were reported in some isolated pockets of the country. The first cases were reported on 301 h January, when three students returning from Wuhan got infected by the virus. The cases started increasing in midMarch, and on 25th March 2020, lockdowns were announced in the country. Months from April to September saw a steep increase in daily cases; daily cases peaked around mid-September with 90K cases reported per day, further dropping to less than 15K in January 2021. However, a second wave, much more devastating than the first, emerged around March 2021. Consequently, the second wave led to huge shortage of oxygen cylinders, vaccines, hospital beds, and other medical supplies across India. The intensity of the second wave peaked in April 2021, and on 301 h April 2021, India became the first country to report 400K new cases in a single day. India started its vaccination drives from 161 h January 2021 with AstraZeneca vaccine (Covisheild) and homemade Covaxin. The vaccination drives were carried out in a phased manner, the initial focus being the 1 OMn healthcare and 20Mn frontline workers. Continuing with its phased approach, by October 2021, India had administered 1 Bn vaccine doses, out of which 700Mn were single and 300Mn were double doses. The number of daily cases started dropping steadily from late-May 2021. However, the mortality rates remained high. By late-may, the country recorded 300K deaths attributed to COVID-19. In late August 2021, some experts stated that India might be entering into an endemicity with COVID-19, wherein transmission levels will be low, and eventually, the country will start learning to live with the virus. By March 2022, India had fully vaccinated 58.8% of its population, and around 70% of the population had received at least one vaccine dose. With this, the Indian government urged states to end all the COVID-related curbs, just mandating the use of masks and social distance.