'National lockdown not needed but...': Immunisation advisory group chairman on containing Covid-19
Arora pointed out that mass agitations and religious events need to be curbed in order to stop the spread of the disease. He said it was unfortunate that the farmers' agitation was going on at Delhi's borders.
The chairman of the Covid-19 working group of the National Technical Advisory Group of Immunisation (NTAGI), Dr NK Arora, on Wednesday warned against political rallies and religious events saying they could act as super-spreaders which could further worsen the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) crisis the nation finds itself in currently.
India recorded the highest-single day jump of 184,372 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday taking the tally of total cases past 13.87 million. On Wednesday, the nation also recorded 1,027 deaths taking the death toll to 172,085.
Arora pointed out that mass agitations and religious events need to be curbed. Terming the ongoing farmer’s agitation unfortunate, he said that fear in people’s minds regarding the pandemic has disappeared. “Non-essential things need to be halted. Religious, cultural and political events including the farmers' agitation are being held which is unfortunate. It is necessary to curb these. One of the primary reasons behind the spread is that the fear of Covid-19 among people has disappeared,” NK Arora was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Arora also said that imposition of lockdown at micro-levels is necessary to strengthen the health facilities in order to cope with rising cases. “We need to focus on how the virus is spreading big cities as well as Tier II and III cities as well. When we impose lockdown at a micro-level we also should strengthen our facilities and extend the lockdown if facilities are collapsing,” he further added.
Arora highlighted that there is no need for a national lockdown but there is a need for a reduction of contact between people. He further added that lockdowns can be restricted to small areas. “We need to impose lockdown measures in a selective region like a part of a district. We have experienced a lockdown and since daily cases are touching almost 2 lakhs per day we need to bank on the experience of our past,” he said.