Virus vigilance has to be maintained: China Daily editorial

India registered more than 350,000 new novel coronavirus infections in the 24 hours from Sunday to Monday, a new high, and 2,800 deaths from the virus on the same day. The accumulated total number of cases in the country has reached more than 17.3 million.

The surge in infections has led to the collapse of the country's healthcare system. Medical resources have been drained, and the country is short of oxygen and beds, which has left an increasing number of sufferers in desperation.

The relaxing of the prevention and control measures in recent days is to blame for such a terrible scenario. India has relaxed control over domestic travel, and preventive measures were eased for students at school. Gatherings for cultural, religious and political events were held without people being required to wear masks or observe social distancing rules.

In addition, new variants of the virus have appeared in India while the rate of vaccination is comparatively low given its large population, although the total number of vaccine doses administered in India is third after that in the United States and China.

There is no knowing how the virus will mutate in the near future and whether the vaccines that have been developed so far will work against those new variants.

So the world needs to do whatever it can to help India with its efforts to stop the spread of the virus as soon as possible. The World Health Organization has already expressed that all means including public health measures, vaccines and treatment tools must be employed to help India with its fight against the virus.

Helping India is contributing to the global fight against the pandemic. Reportedly, China will transport about 10,000 oxygen concentrators to India this week. China has already expressed its willingness to provide India with whatever help it needs. Many other countries have also said they are willing to extend a helping hand.

What India has undergone should serve as a warning to the rest of the world that taking chances by relaxing prevention and control measures will likely provide the virus with an opportunity to wreak havoc again.

For China, which has been almost free from new domestic cases for some time thanks to its success in containing the spread of the virus, strict prevention and control measures must continue to be observed. The May Day holiday is around the corner when many people will be traveling. People must be required to wear masks in public venues, adhere to social distancing and wash hands frequently. And those eligible should be vaccinated. As the situation in India shows, there can be no let up in prevention and control efforts if the virus is to be kept at bay.