An unusual Covid story……
Uttar Pradesh is a densely populated district of India, with a population of 241 million. (In case you are reading any of the links here… a bakh=100,000, and a crore=10mill)
Like every country in the world, India had their first wave of Covid in 2020. This wave peaked around September 2020 and eventually subsided on its own
And then came the big one ( I believe this would be the Delta). This outbreak caused many fatalities. The outbreak peaked near the 20th of April, 2021 and by middle of June of 2020 it had mostly subsided. (graph obtained from Ref a)
Since India is barely vaccinated, I assumed that these waves subsided by themselves, without help…. but that may not be so.
As the article below explains, the government of Uttar Pradesh has treated their population with Ivermectin (plus an antibiotic), as soon as the first wave showed up.
They continued this protocol throughout the big second wave. Government officials believe that without the use of these medications, the second outbreak would have been even worse..
The big second wave peaked in April 2021 and ended by the middle of june 2021 (see graph above).
Near the end of the second wave, they also started a vaccine program…. By Aug 5, 2021, approximately 3% of the population of Uttar Pradesh was fully vaccinated
As of Sep 10, Uttar Pradesh is 6% fully vaccinated, and another 29% have their first shot (assuming I calculated these numbers correctly).
And the district is just about Covid–free!
As of today, India is 14% fully vaccinated. (Ref b)
PS.: I am not an expert on Ivermectin. I don’t use Ivermectin. I am not suggesting for anyone to use it. I am not sure, whether the use of this medication caused the outbreaks to subside, or if other reasons apply. It is quite possible that the use of this medication has nothing to do with the ups and downs of these outbreaks (there is no proof, one way or the other.)
However, it is nice to hear that one large area is finally almost Covid-free
Ref a)
Ref b)