**3. The second wave of COVID-19 pandemic**

Although unlocking in phases was being attempted to resume the work situation as before, the casual attitude of people of not wearing a mask and maintaining proper hygiene once more has brought the second wave of the pandemic into the picture. The second wave although started gradually but sooner has spread at a great speed throughout the country, with the majority of the cases being reported from Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and New Delhi.

A decline of the active cases was noticed until Feb-March 2021 when a sudden rise of cases began to be noticed. So, who actually can be blamed for this sudden sprout of the diseases for the second time? Crowded election rallies, religious and other social gatherings, and early opening of public places are being considered as the causative factors for the spread of the disease. India is a country of diversity and is highly populated with a variation of people ranging from very poor to very rich. The most affected group is the lower strata of people.

Hence complete lockdown probably was never an answer. The casual attitude of the countrymen towards the disease is the only factor that probably has led to this second wave. The situation has worsened this time as the rate of casualties has taken a steep rise, hospital facilities are full, and demand for oxygen and medications has increased from before.

A new double mutant variant of the coronavirus has been detected from the collected samples from different states of the country. B.1.617 lineage is known as the 'double mutant' virus. An increase in the fraction of samples with the E484Q and L452R mutations he been found by the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG) group. Besides.

India some other countries like the US, UK, Denmark, and Switzerland have also come across similar mutant strains. A new lineage of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, called B.1.618, has been identified in West Bengal, India.

Since the vaccine has remained the only hope of tackling the virus, scientists world over are trying their level best to develop an effective vaccine. Sputnik V vaccine is the latest one and has shown effective results in the trials done, so far. In their interim analysis report, Denis Logunov and colleagues reported a consistent strong protective effect across all participant age groups [25]. Sputnik V vaccine is also known as Gam-COVID-Vac. It utilises adenovirus 26 (Ad26) and adenovirus 5 (Ad5) as vectors. The other two vaccines utilising the adenovirus vector approach are the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine, which uses a chimpanzee adenovirus (ChAdOx) [26], and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine that uses the only Ad26 [27].

Although vaccines are being evolved and clinical trials are being performed at a rapid speed, the sad part of the picture is that a lot many people who are already vaccinated have got affected by the coronavirus. Probably the mutation has caused a change in the spike of the protein which is the target area of the vaccine. Although it's a hypothetical note only as of now, if it's true, then the antibodies may not be able to recognise and neutralise the virus effectively.

Although the journey till now has remained a roller coaster ride for many, it is important to be patient and calm till the time the scientific reasons for the mutations and further effective vaccines and medicine become available. Further, people should strictly maintain hand hygiene and social distancing norms besides swearing masks all the time.
