Patchy recovery: How 2022 swung from despair to hope to caution

Even as it grappled with new viruses, the human race hit another milestone

An A4-size blank paper became the symbol of a rare Chinese protest against the Xi Jinping government’s harsh curbs in keeping with its zero-Covid policy. Mass protests, which erupted across the country in late 2022, gathered momentum after at least 10 people were killed in an apartment fire in November in Xinjiang, where many residents were under lockdown. The ‘White Paper Revolution’ also became an expression of lack of freedom of speech. China finally relented and rolled back its Covid policy. The country is now witnessing a Covid surge, with hospitalisations on the rise.

The 8th Wonder: The world’s population touched 8 billion on November 15 (UN estimates) with the birth of the baby girl Vinice Mabansag in Manila, the Philippines. She is now known as the symbolic 8 billionth person. It has taken the world 11 years to go from  7 billion to 8 billion, and the UN estimates that in 15 years, the human race will hit the 9-billion mark.

On July 17, India became the world’s first country to administer 2 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses. These included the first, second and the booster dose. It took India 548 days to arrive at this milestone. Seen in this picture is Asmita Koladiya, a healthcare worker, with her eight-month-old daughter as she administers a vaccine dose in Lodhida village of Rajkot, Gujarat.

Milder, not Mild: The Omicron variant of Covid-19 swept the country in the early part of 2022 but it was less severe than the Delta and Alpha variants, resulting in fewer hospitalisations and deaths. With symptoms receding largely within a week to 10 days, health experts said it was possible that Covid was entering an endemic stage.

Who, What? On May 5, the World Health Organisation (WHO) released its report on excess mortality due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The calculations were done using a mathematical model. There were an estimated 14.9 million deaths associated with the disease between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2021, as against a little over 5.4 million total deaths officially recorded by countries. India alone, according to WHO, accounted for 4.7 million deaths — almost 10 times the government figure of about 481,000. India rejected the report. China’s fatalities, meanwhile, were recorded in the negative, implying nobody died of Covid-19 in the country.

In July, Gambia’s medical officials noticed a rise in the number of instances of acute renal damage in children under the age of five, leading to 69 deaths. WHO said these fatalities might be linked to four cough syrups produced by Haryana-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals. After investigation, India’s drug regulator gave the company a clean chit. WHO, however, is firm that the syrups were contaminated with toxic chemicals. 

                                                               

Manufactured by Bharat Biotech, iNCOVACC was approved as India’s first intranasal Covid-19 vaccine — second such in the world after China’s CanSino Biologics. This chimpanzee adenovirus vectored recombinant vaccine ensures ease of administration and does not require specially trained healthcare workers. The vaccine is priced at Rs 800 for private players and Rs 325 for government hospitals.

The world returned to a semblance of normalcy in 2022 as Covid-19 appeared to go from a pandemic to endemic stage. Several countries declared that wearing a mask in public was no longer mandatory, and removed restrictions. Experts, though, have cautioned against lowering one’s guard. And now, with cases in China surging, mask mandates are back in various places.

In July, WHO declared MPox, or monkeypox, a global health emergency as it spread to 110 countries. An infection caused by a virus similar to the now-eradicated smallpox virus, it spread to humans through close contact with an infected person or animal, or with material contaminated with the virus. Around 81,100 confirmed cases and 55 deaths were reported.

The lumpy skin disease infected around 1.125 million cattle, caused nearly 50,000 deaths and impacted around 22 states in India. Infected animals suffered loss of weight, fever and lesions in the mouth, along with reduced milk yield. By mid-August, over 1.1 million cattle had been vaccinated against the disease, and 2.8 million doses of goat pox (the parent virus) had been administered.

Micro Labs, the maker of anti-fever tablet Dolo-650, was accused of distributing freebies worth around  Rs 1,000 crore to doctors as consideration for prescribing the tablet. The Federation of Medical and Sales Representatives Association of India filed a PIL in the Supreme Court, which called it a ‘serious matter'.

In late January, after cases of illness and two infant deaths, the US Food and Drug Administration inspected a plant in Michigan owned by the country’s largest infant formula manufacturer, Abbott Nutrition. Inspectors found a bacteria, Cronobacter sakazakii, in the formula. The firm recalled it and halted production at the plant.

Sixteen children, including a five-month-old baby, lost their lives in Mumbai and nearby areas to a measles outbreak. The Maharashtra health department said that over 400,000 children had been identified in the state for a booster vaccine. So far, over 152,200 children have been administered the dose.

In August, global pharma giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J) announced that it would discontinue the sale of its talc-based baby powder products in 2023. The announcement came after thousands of women filed lawsuits against J&J, claiming damages after allegedly being diagnosed with cancer after using the baby powder.

India’s premier medical institute, AIIMS, faced a severe cyberattack in November, which derailed routine health services and affected thousands of patients and doctors. The cyberattack froze everyday work, including appointments and registration, billing, laboratory report generation, and patient records. According to officials, the ransomware attack corrupted files stored on the main and backup servers of the hospital.