World’s Biggest Dilemma, In addition to huge losses of human life, the Corona Virus has caused immense economic slowdown all over the world due to halted production and lockdown for a long time. In India, the Coronavirus has caused thousands of daily wage labourers to be out of jobs due to the nationwide complete lockdown. This has forced them to return to their home towns by travelling miles on foot. Along with Corona, we’re facing the problem of starvation as well. Thus we’re faced with the most practical problem, whether to save lives or living.
Lockdown Only Under Absolute Necessity
World’s Biggest Dilemma, The special envoy on COVID-19 of the World Health Organization, David Nabarro states, “No country wants to stay in lockdown for any longer than absolutely necessary. So, the best thing to do now is to develop the community-level capacity for detection and isolation of positive cases.” Lockdown would cause a stoppage of production which meant immense international economic depression, something that no country is prepared to face or has ever thought of. According to him, “With a lot of luck, we might have a vaccine within 18 months.” Additionally, the production of vaccines to immunize everyone around the globe in a short notice was another mammoth and extremely difficult task.
Steps Being Discussed in India
According to Dr. Devi Shetty, chairperson of the Narayana Hospitals, the hotspots of the COVID-19 spread must be sealed and lockdown from other areas can be gradually lifted. This would be an unconventional exit strategy from the 21-days lockdown that will supposedly have a considerable economic impact on the nation. He states that there are no medical reasons to continue the nationwide lockdown any longer. India, due to its alertness, has been able to decrease the expected mortality rate by 50%. An early lockdown is one of the prime causes for this success. For Karnataka, he has recommended public transport to be started at 50% capacity and shops to be open from early morning till late hours to avoid crowding.
Concern About the Hotspots
According to Dr. Guleria, director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the next challenge for us, would be to prevent the spread of infection from the hotspots. He suggested social distancing and regular washing of hands as the only possible ways to contain COVID-19. He also expressed the need for more data to decide on the continuation of the lockdown.
Some suggestions
Dr. Dinesh Arora, IAS and former deputy CEO at National Health Agency, stated four strategies to safeguard the upcoming days.
- Protecting the high-risk groups i.e. health workers and population over the age of 65 years.
- Continuing lockdown in hotspots but gradually opening the economy.
- Ramp-up testing of COVID-19 by leveraging the private sector.
- Technology to be used more extensively for surveillance.
Our Lessons
Dr. Rajiv Kumar, the vice-chairperson of Niti Aayog, stated that the important lessons from this Corona pandemic were-
- Reducing the cost of medical education in India,
- Attracting talent back to India for healthcare research,
- Encouraging informal sectors towards providing social and medical safety nets and
- Having enough resources at hand to prevent any dilemma between life and livelihood in the future.
