Currently, the entire India is trying hard to comply with the 21-day lockdown of the country, as communicated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the nation at 8 pm on March 24, 2020. The very next day, while addressing his parliamentary constituency of Varanasi via video, he said, “the Mahabharata war was won in 18 days but this war against Coronavirus will take 21 days.”
After this announcement most people’s life, as I myself can feel it, has changed as never before in the past. Unlike the West, in India most of us are too much dependent on domestic help, for routine chores of the family. How difficult these are, at least, I never experienced in the past. Will life, in its entirety, ever be the same gain?
In addition, shortages of most of the essential items were felt everywhere, be these vegetables, grocery items or medicines. Leave aside, the non-essential necessities. But, the bottom-line is, the lockdown has to be followed. There isn’t any other effective alternative to protect ourselves, those working for us to make our lives easier and comfortable, our respective neighborhood and thereby our country. In its midst, a cacophony over this decision is palpable, whatever may be the reason. Many are from highly credible sources.
Exploring various facets of the cacophony, this article will dwell on the question that will arise at the moment of truth – on or after April 15, 2020: What happened after 21-day lockdown of the entire nation. I shall try to focus on this question with the most relevant facts.
The Government’s rationale behind 3 weeks lockdown:
As explained by the Prime Minister and later by several Indian experts, the rationale behind the 21-day lockdown will include primarily the following:
- The incubation period of Covid19 is around 5 to 14 days. This is also the potential transmission period of the microbe. Effective social distancing of all, may contain or even stop its spread.
- As all viruses can sustain or exist only by replicating, they are completely dependent on a host cell for survival and can’t reproduce outside a cell. Social distancing may help in this area, as well.
- Since, the world doesn’t have any vaccine for Covid19, as yet, prevention alternatives are limited.
Cacophony includes: Is complete national lockdown the only answer?
Several highly credible voices are asking: Is the complete lockdown of the nation the only answer? For example, Professor Vikram Patel at Harvard Medical School, wondered about the relevance of national lockdown in his article of March 26, 2020. He wrote, without any widespread community transmission of the disease, the Government might have staved off the worst without a sledge-hammer approach of national lockdown, which no country at India’s stage of the epidemic has imposed.
Elaborating the alternative approach, he suggested to intensify case finding approach through testing and contact tracing, quarantining those who are infected, physical distancing by everyone, graded travel restrictions, preparing the health system to cater to those who may need intensive care and protect health care workers. Even locking-down limited populations with community transmission will be prudent. When properly implemented these steps ‘could have stopped the epidemic in its tracks.’ Citing examples, he wrote, many of our Asian neighbors have done it successfully. Even China, the original epicenter of the epidemic, did not lock down the entire country.
According to other reports, as well, the countries, such as, Singapore, Germany, Turkey, Taiwan and China, have so far handled Covid19 much better than other countries in containing the pandemic. They all ‘refrained from imposing a complete, nationwide curfew-like lockdown.’ China did bring only the Hubei province under complete lockdown, but not the whole country. Scientists expect that Covid19 will exist despite lockdown – till an effective vaccine is developed and made available for all.
Are our doctors adequately protected against Covid19?
Today, even the doctors and other health care workers remain extremely vulnerable to the disease. Even in AIIMS doctors, reportedly, are using masks and sanitizers made by themselves or buying them.…continue reading…
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