Current Affairs Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination

Topic: Coronavirus in Antarctica

Why in News?

• Recently, at least 36 people at a Chilean research station in Antarctica have been found infected with the novel coronavirus. This is the first instance of the virus on the icy, southernmost continent.

Habitation and Infection in Antarctica

• Antarctica is uninhabited except for those manning the nearly 60 permanent stations established by several countries, including India, for carrying out scientific research.
• The infected people were stationed at the General Bernardo O’Higgins Riquelme, located on the northernmost tip of Antarctica, facing the southern Chilean coast. All have been evacuated, and put in isolation in Chile.

Indian Stations in Antarctica

• The two Indian permanent stations, Maitri and Bharati, are at least 5,000 km away from the Chilean base.
• National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) in Goa is the nodal agency for India’s scientific expeditions in Antarctica and the Arctic. The two Indian stations are themselves separated by almost 3,000 km.
• Following the Covid epidemic, an international protocol for working in the Antarctica has been agreed upon. There is practically no interaction amongst scientists of different countries.
• The team that is nearest to Indian station is Russians, which is about 10 km away.
• The Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs, comprising 30 countries, had decided early in the pandemic to cut team sizes and limit the number of people at the stations.
• All major research projects were halted, tourism was cancelled, and several facilities were shut.

Precautions India Taking

• About 50 people are supposed to return to Antarctica next month, have been quarantined in a hotel in Goa. They are being tested every five days.
• The team will travel to Antarctica directly from Goa, unlike in normal times, when it travels to South Africa and then boards a ship from Cape Town for the remaining distance.
• Precautions are being taken to ensure that no one gets infected during the journey, which will take about a month.
• The ship will have to refuel once, maybe in Mauritius. People would continue to be tested on board, and if someone tests positive, there are contingency plans to isolate and, if possible, deboard them on the way.

Covid Impact on India’s Antarctic Programme

• Apart from personnel at the two permanent stations, several Indian researchers head to Antarctica every year for their own projects.
• Antarctica is extremely conducive to carrying out a variety of experiments, especially those related to weather and climate change, because of its unpolluted environment.
• Indian scientists usually head to Antarctica in November or December, and remain there until April. This year no such group could go to Antarctica.

Indian Antarctic Programme

• The Indian Antarctic Program is a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional program under the control of the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India.
• It was initiated in 1981 with the first Indian expedition to Antarctica.
• The program gained global acceptance with India's signing of the Antarctic Treaty and subsequent construction of the Dakshin Gangotri Antarctic research base in 1983, superseded by the Maitri base from 1989.
• The newest base commissioned in 2012 is Bharati, constructed out of 134 shipping containers.
• Under the program, atmospheric, biological, earth, chemical, and medical sciences are studied by India, which has carried out 30 scientific expeditions to the Antarctic as of 14 October 2010.