Measures taken up to check COVID-19 : Essence of the lockdown
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: April 07 2020 -

Lockdown for 21 days. Physical distancing.

Cancel National and international flights.

Shut schools and colleges. Work from home. Impose curfew.

These are some measures that have been taken up by the Narendra Modi led Government and this is understandable for the desperate time that the world is in today definitely needs some desperate measures.

Tough to say where the lights off call at 9 pm of April 5 from the Prime Minister himself will fall, but this may be seen as a part of the larger scheme of things to battle the coronavirus which has taken a heavy toll on the world.

The United States presently leads the table in the number of infected patients with 3,37,309 as of April 6, but its death tally is behind those of Italy and Spain with 9,643.

A clear statement that it is not necessarily the death sentence for anyone found infected with the virus.

Italy with 1,28,948 positive cases lead the table with 15,887 deaths as on April 6 followed closely by Spain with 1,31,646 infected people and 12,641 deaths.

Not exactly picking up randomly but significant to note too that Germany with 1,00,123 infected people has recorded a comparatively low death of 1584 people while France with 70,478 positive cases has a total of 8078 deaths.

Underlining the point that a higher rate of infection need not necessarily mean a higher death rate.

It also stands that the coronavirus outbreak has turned so many things on its head that a paradigm shift may be called for to define the health care system across the world.

So Italy which is deemed to have one of the finest health care systems in the world, particularly Lombardy the epicentre of the virus outbreak, should lead the death tally though the number of infection falls below the United States and Spain.

With 1,28,948 people infected, as on April 6, Italy is just a notch above the figure of 1,00,123 in Germany but the death tally is hugely different.

Germany with 1,00,123 infected people has a death tally 1584 which is way below the 15,887 mark of Italy.

All cases which should underline the fact that testing positive for coronavirus does not necessarily mean the death sentence and this is one reason why the people should not panic.

India on the other hand is a relatively late entrant to the coronavirus field, though this is no reason to let the guards down.

The fact that the virus is spreading fast is above debate and the country which had less than 10 positive cases on March 2 this year now has 4067 positive cases and 109 deaths.

The Tablighi Jamaat gathering held every week till March 21 at Nizamuddin in Delhi may be said to have opened the floodgates of the positive cases in the country, perhaps best exemplified by neighbouring Assam, where more than 25 people have tested positive.

In Manipur too one out of the two infected with the virus had participated in the Nizamuddin congregation.

The situation is frightening and one says this without being an alarmist, but it stands that the more number of people are tested the more positive cases one may find and this is distinctly an uncomfortable thought.

The fight is far from over and the critical question at this point of time is how sincerely are the people following the call to maintain physical distancing ?

There is the pressing need for all to understand why the 21 days lockdown has been clamped.

Not coming to terms with the reality of the 21 days lockdown could be catastrophic for everyone.