Is Lockdown cure for Corona?

Causes and the outbreak: Presently the words “Corona” or “COVID-19” is not unknown to anyone rather has become a panic word. First recorded case of the pandemic was around December 2019 in Wuhan city of China. China reported a local fish market as the epicentre but many disagree with that. Starting from December till date (i.e. April 2020) the microscopic organism has resulted in a disaster worldwide. First world countries like Italy, the U.S.A and U.K. which is believed to have the best health facilities have almost surrendered to the deadly virus. Many cities now have more dead bodies than living humans. 

                         India reported its first case in Kerala on January 30, 2020. Since the virus has high contamination ability and India with such a dense population the virus can spread like wildfire. When a person carrying the virus comes in close contact with a fit person, he will also get the virus transferred into his body. A major challenge is that the virus does not show symptoms until 10-14 days. The visible symptoms of Corona are likely:

• Cough
• Fever
• Breathing Troubles

Since the symptoms come very late so an infected person remains unknown about the illness. By this time he might have transferred the virus to a large number of people. Corona has hit the elderly and the children in more numbers due to their low immunity. It has proved fatal for people with existing kidney, renal or respiratory troubles. 

The Lockdown: COVID-19 is a new virus and the world was unprepared for the pandemic with no medicines and vaccine available. Every day the infected persons and Corona deaths were increasing drastically. Coronavirus has already spread to more than 100 countries and claimed thousands of death. The World Health Organization (WHO) declares COVID-19 as a pandemic. The only way was to stop the transmission and get some to prepare. This could be only done by reducing close human contact. 

                         Many countries have already cancelled domestic and international flights. After creating havoc in other parts, India reported 500 cases by March 20, 2020, and the curve was showing a steep rise every day. Indian Prime Minister addressed the nation and declared a nation-wide 3 weeks total lockdown starting from March 24, 2020. This limited the movement of people as there were no modes of communication. Offices, shops, markets, malls, etc were shut down within a short span of 4 hours. 

Effect of the Lockdown: As professionals, we were worried as there would no production but the lockdown was the only way to stop the spread. T.V. Ads, Social media etc were filled with Govt. Instructions about how to stay safe from Corona like:

1. Wearing Mask.
2. Keeping at least 6ft distance from each other.
3. Staying Inside.
4. Washing hands with soap for min. 20 secs. every hour.
5. Using hand sanitizer with alcohol more than 70%.

Me and most of us understood the urgency and followed the instructions. But many people still ignored and were loitering without any reason. I used to go out once or twice a week to get the necessary things. Many like me would agree on the number of irresponsible people with no mask and almost pushing you to buy we see in the markets. Despite clear Govt. Instructions of the easy availability of necessary things, many people started storing materials. Still, the police did a good job to make the people follow the rules. 

Is lockdown effective? The lockdown stopped human movement successfully hence chances of transmission were restricted. The world got time to react and find a way out. Let me talk about Indian conditions. We do not have the best health care facilities so conditions were predicted to be devastating. All state Govt. made space for isolation centres for the affected people. Scientist all over the globe started experimenting with different medicines. 

                       

The experts during lockdown got the time to understand the virus nature and come up with an effective drug to cure. India registered almost 80% lockdown as a few essential services needed to operate. Lockdown will never cure the disease rather it will just be limited for a certain time. Along with lockdown the most essential duty is chasing the virus and eliminating it. Testing was the best option to track the virus. 

India’s response to the lockdown: Shri Narendra Modi responded very quickly and declared the lockdown at the very correct time. Though I believe the flights especially the international ones should have been sealed earlier. Now in India tracking the virus is extremely difficult due to the huge and dense population. Adding to this there was a worldwide shortage of testing kits and other medical kits. Even in this time of emergence China again proved that their products can never be trusted. 

                     

India imported a huge number of testing kits which were distributed in all states and districts. Within a few days, reports of faulty kits started coming from multiple states. This resulted in the stopping of random testing. So we again stepped back in chasing Corona. I still wonder why the Indian Govt. buy the kits from China when the same was available from South Korea at a cheaper price. 

Lockdown Extended in India: Daily increase of COVID-19 cases and deaths due to the virus made it necessary to increase India’s lockdown. The health ministry gave a regular briefing about the country’s situation. The number of daily testing increased so the numbers of affected people were also rising. Corona has also resulted in the financial paralysis in India and other countries. Lockdown cannot be an endless process as it will result in famine. 

                

Indian farmers who were already in a critical situation and their suicides due to poverty is a major concern for many states. The virus added to their agony as in the lockdown they were unable to take their products in the market. Many farmers have dumped their vegetation due to lack of buyers. So Govt. needs to accelerate the testing process which till date is low. 

What Next? India is almost set to go for a lockdown for the third time with no sign to control the situation. Union Ministry instructed opening of few shops locally giving indications that our economy is hit very hard. A section of people in India has already lost their livelihood with no money to buy food. Many N.G.Os and institutions have come forward helping these people but for how long? 

                  

After the lockdown when we have to use public transport, will we be safe? I do not believe so. Hope the experts come up with an effective medicine or vaccine for the cure. The Oxford University and few other expert teams are claiming to be very close to making the vaccine. Such reports are encouraging. Until that we are all sitting on a time bomb which is waiting to explode anytime. Maybe the second attack will be more lethal. More and more correct testing to chase the virus is the only thing we can do. COVID-19 had shown us how a microscopic thing can paralyse the whole world. So please stay inside and follow Govt. instructions strictly to overcome the panic situation.