The rapid increase in the Covid-19 cases in India from the last few months has brought back the fantasm of a lockdown. In many states, the limited lockdown has already been imposed, and threats for stringent lockdown in cities like Mumbai and Delhi are still in discussion.
Several assessments of the previous lockdown have already been made. But the question is “Does the second wave of Covid-19 will bring lockdown in India again?”
Also Read: Coronavirus Second Wave Symptoms Looks Different From The First
In the last few months, India has eased out completely from restrictions we have seen previously, with all sectors exhortatory borders to open. But with a huge spike in Maharashtra, the state government, on 2nd April 2021, announced a weekend lockdown and night curfew. It can be for two reasons;
- To induce a sense of urgency among the people and to follow the Covid-19 norms and regulations
- To break down the transmission of the disease.
Firstly, the opportunity to fight this epidemic is gone. The fundamental understanding is to attack the virus when it is low transmission season to control this disease.
What Professor and head, life course epidemiology at Indian institute of public health Recommend?
Dr. Giridhara R Babu (Professor and head, life course epidemiology at Indian institute of public health) also wrote on February 5, 2021, that with the decline in Covid-19 cases, India needs the 3Cs: containment efforts to limit the spread, coverage of vaccines, and continued genetic sequencing. But many Indian states have hesitated on these three fronts.
India had the best opportunity to survive in the first wave with distinct advantages, including mortality rate. The country should have implemented strong containment measures including synchronic monitoring of genome sequences to restrict or limit the transmission.
Now, it seems that we have already lost the most needed time to respond against this virus, including scaling up vaccination. However, not much time is available to plan to save lives. Without any delay, we (India) should respond stronger than before to the second wave of Covid-19.
The Indian government should make a plan for adequate availability of beds for critical care and ample amount of oxygen supply to hospitals. If we fail to meet these requirements, the decision-makers will resort to lockdown.
The best thing that can be helpful to overcome the second wave is war terminologies, i.e. “fight”, “deploy”, “prepare” and “launch”. This trend fits the best way to deal with the Covid-19 second wave.
A complete country lockdown will be like using nuclear weapons, especially when our economy is still low.
