Key Learnings from the COVID Resurge – Putting Healthcare First and Ramping Up Resources: Recommended Action Points to Handle Such Pandemics in Future

The second wave of the COVID pandemic has had a sudden and severe impact on India. This grueling period was associated with the shortage of healthcare resources like hospital beds, oxygen supply, and medicines along with overburdening of health workers, and a very high toll of community suffering and loss. A combination of highly infective viral variant strains with the backdrop of premature complacency, removal of restrictions and abandonment of COVID appropriate behaviour may be responsible factors in hindsight. However, important learnings and action points acquired from the COVID resurge, can be valuable to avert such situations in future. These include focusing on maximizing population vaccination; continuing enforcement of safety norms with the graded lifting of restrictions; using data tools and medical research for prediction, analysis and timely decisions; ramping up healthcare resources and production of medicines, lifesaving equipment and vaccines; and having regulations and mechanisms in place to tackle misuse and illegal activities. Above all selflessness and unity at the level of the administration, community and individual are the needs of the hour in such a challenging situation.