ARE WE READY?

COVID-19 is not going away in a hurry. Eight weeks of the lockdown have helped us contain the spread of the virus, but it is still a long haul

- SONALI ACHARJEE

As India reaches the cusp of a third lockdown only to prepare for Ver. 4.0, it is time to ask if the move has accomplished what it was meant to and laid the foundation for a future strategy for COVID-19. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the lockdown on March 24, India had 564 COVID infections and 10 deaths. Worldwide, the global death toll had already crossed 10,000, and hospitals were fast running out of beds and ventilators. Italy was grappling with 69,176 cases, the US 42,164, and the UK 8,077. Going by their experience, India knew it had no choice but to go into lockdown. If the disease could overwhelm countries with healthcare systems far more sophisticated than ours, what chance did our fraught healthcare infrastructure have?

Eight weeks into the lockdown, set for further extension on May 18 with an entirely new set of rules, Dr. V.K. Paul, member, NITI Aayog, and head of the empowered committee on medical emergency management, believes it has made a difference. “Eight weeks ago, our doubling time was 3.4 days; this week, it is 11-12 days. The lockdown was focused on slowing the rate of transmission, to push our curve on a trajectory low enough for our systems to cope with. It had a clear purpose—slow down the spread of infection and equip healthcare.”