In a 45-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Dr Rakesh Mishra said INSACOG’s concerns were conveyed directly to Dr Sujeet Kumar Singh, the Director of the National Centre for Disease Control, to whom INSACOG reports. He added “I think it went to the Health Secretary” and then, on further questioning, said it’s impossible to believe the Prime Minister would not have been told. As he put it, INSACOG was set up by the government to keep it informed and it’s hard to believe such a warning would not have been communicated to the head of the government.

Speaking to The Wire, Dr. Mishra said “it was a high concern and there’s no doubt about it”. He added, “we were very very concerned”. He said INSACOG was “dreading something bad would happen”.

Asked to specify what INSACOG’s fears and concerns were in early March when it warned the government, Dr. Mishra said: “variants were very prolific”. INSACOG was worried about “exponential growth” of cases which he said would be “very dangerous” with “much more mortality”. Dr. Mishra also said that exponential growth in cases would provide opportunities for the virus to mutate and that could possibly lead to mutations that are not just more infectious but also more immune resistant, thus undermining the vaccine program that is underway.