The explosion of Covid-19 cases in China after the reversal of its deeply unpopular zero-Covid policy has raised fears of a return to the late-2019-early-2020 crisis. American public health scientist Eric-Feigl-Ding has described this wave as “thermonuclear bad” and predicted that 60 per cent of China and 10 per cent of the world’s population are likely to be infected in the next 90 days. The country is already reporting deaths and the virus is making its presence felt in the US, Brazil, South Korea and Japan. The prospect of a renewed outbreak in India cannot be ruled out. Given the