Mumbai: Complacency towards following social distancing as a ‘social vaccine’ continues to high in India. This is happening even though India has recorded over 50 cases of the Omicron variant within the last 10 days. This finding has been done by ‘LocalCircles’ in a new survey.
Scientists and epidemiologists from around the world have raised a red flag on Omicron. WHO has categorised it as a ‘variant of concern’. In a few weeks Omicron has been detected in over 60 countries from around the world with all major nations included, online platform ‘LocalCircles’ said in a release Tuesday.
Moreover, initial research has revealed that Astrazeneca, administered to 90 per cent of the jabs given so far in India, provides zero protection from the Omicron variant. Further research is awaited whether a third dose of Covishield or Astrazeneca can provide immunity against Omicron.
This leaves the use of masks and social distancing as the only and absolute preventative measure, according to LocalCircles. It carried out the survey to understand if people are again becoming cautious post Omicron.
With a decline in the daily caseload to below 10,000 mark and an increase in the total number of vaccinated citizens in India that has crossed 132 crore mark, social distancing compliance has seen a significant decline post the second wave of the pandemic, it said.
The survey received over 25,000 responses from citizens from 303 districts of India. The survey asked respondents about how people in their city/district/area are now complying with social distancing norms and. A total of 83 per cent citizens said that social distancing compliance is negligible or zero in their area/district/city, ‘LocalCircles’ said in the release.
Only 11 per cent respondents said that some 30-60 per cent people were compliant and two per cent said 60-90 per cent people were compliant while four per cent did not have an opinion, the agency said.
In a similar survey conducted by LocalCircles in April this year when the second wave of the pandemic was raging throughout India, only 11 per cent of citizens rated social distancing compliance high (over 90 per cent people compliant) in their city or district while it dropped to six per cent in September, the platform said in the release.
It also said that when people who travelled in the last 30 days were asked about compliance to social distancing norms that they observed during travel using flights/airports, trains/railway stations or bus/bus stands, 52 per cent said that there is ‘no social distancing compliance at all’. No one opted for the option of 90 per cent or more people complying, it added.
Recently, citizens shared pictures of various airports, railway stations and trains with no social distancing being observed and zero enforcement of the same, according to the release.
“With latest research from UK indicating that two dose Astrazeneca vaccine has near-zero efficacy against Omicron, the need of the hour is to create awareness about the importance of social distancing among the public, impose restrictions where needed and drive-up enforcement”, said Sachin Taparia, founder of ‘LocalCircles’.
“It may be time for the Government to focus mass and public awareness campaigns again on masking and social distancing that were initiated in April 2020,” Taparia added.
