India Has Made Corona Fighting Its Top Priority
India on Tuesday announced a 21-day national lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, in stark contrast to the slow responses in most of the Western countries. The virus spread seems to be still in its initial stage in India, with only 519 confirmed cases as of 24 Mar,, in such a huge population. This decisive move by the Modi government is commendable in face of economic penalties involved.
That being said, it is difficult to judge whether the lockdown is too early or too late, as the Indian government has made a considered decision for not conducting any widespread testing. With a population of 1.3 billion, India has reportedly conducted just 15,000 tests, which may not be sufficient to understand the true extent of the outbreak. South Korea with a population of 52 million has reportedly conducted over 300,000 tests. However Indian tests have been random and geographically quite far apart.
An economically costly lockdown will surely help India buy time, and will help to prevent the virus from spreading. In addition to a complete lockdown, a more active plan to fight the virus is also being worked out in India.
For starters, all hospitals have been asked to take aggressive approach in detecting out any OPD patients who has been infected with the virus. Also administration is aggressively identifying and testing all those who have recently returned from any foreign countries. Identifying infections is always the first step to containing the spread. Countries like South Korea and Singapore which have succeeded in flattening the infection rate curve have all conducted large-scale testing which is not feasible in India.
Many states lack sufficient testing kits in the short term, so chest scans which appeared effective in Wuhan and could be used to diagnose the coronavirus. The Central government is already working through defence and other labs to produce more testing kits.
India has also prepared make worst-case scenario plans. Hospitals and other medical resources can easily be overwhelmed when there is an outbreak. It will take time for authorities to prepare medical equipment, makeshift hospitals and quarantine locations for those who test positive and their close contacts, so relevant preparations have been made in advance. Even Armed Forces are on standby.
A long-term national lockdown comes at great economic and social cost, and is not just difficult for a government but also its people, particularly the poor. Thus, in addition to ensuring essential daily supplies, the Modi government at the Centre and all the State Governments are chalking plan to support the country’s poorest to weather the upcoming economic winter, both during and after the lockdown.
Finally, India is also work together with its neighboring countries and is already helping its SAARC neighbours to fight the coronavirus. It has even helped China, Italy and Iran to fight the menace.
With its lessons learned during the outbreak, China is also willing to share its virus prevention and diagnostic experience with neighboring countries. India has made the virus fighting its top priority.
