From Vaccine Diplomacy To Testing: The Government's Covid Flip-Flops

This morning over 2.17 lakh new cases were reported in 24 hours - the second consecutive day with more than two lakh, and the tenth with over one lakh

As India battles a second, and even bigger, wave of coronavirus cases - this morning over 2.17 lakh new cases were reported in the past 24 hours - and the government's handling of the pandemic and vaccination drive come under scrutiny, an NDTV analysis suggests a flip-flop on key policies and decisions may have led to a delay in taking and implementing crucial measures. Vaccine Diplomacy: The export of millions of doses of vaccines was praised by the global community, with the World Health Organisation hailing the promotion of vaccine equity. However, as states ran out of doses the question arose - did the government miscalculate requirements? On March 24 Covishield export was halted but, by then, over 64 million doses had been sent to around 80 countries and only 52 million were administered in India. It took the government another three weeks to (implicitly only) acknowledge the shortage and rush to widen the vaccine basket. On Monday Russia's Sputnik V was cleared for use, with other foreign vaccines urged to apply.