‘Aggressively carry out core health measures’

implement core public health measures - detect and test, isolate and treat, and trace contacts, promote safe hygiene practices and respiratory etiquette, protect health workers, and increase health system capacity. This is a pandemic. It needs a whole-of-society approach. Our fight against Covid-19 is far from over. The world is still facing a big wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Do lockdowns work if infection rates are high?

Lockdowns have multiple objectives as public health measures for social distancing, to slow down the virus transmission, and to allow the healthcare systems enough time to strengthen infrastructure and capacities. The cornerstone of the response in any transmission scenario continues to be to find, isolate, test and care, and to trace and quarantine contacts.

Is more testing needed to diagnose and isolate?

Testing is an important component of surveillance and guides contract tracing, isolation, and treatment. It also shows where response efforts need to be directed to combat the disease. India has been calibrating its testing strategy as per the changing situation, taking into account scope, need, and capacity. With increased testing, the trajectory of positive cases will go up. But it will also help in better preparedness and response.

What is the role of antibody tests? The Pcr-based tests are better for telling whether you are infected or not and the serology, or the blood test, is better to detect whether you have been infected recently or in the past.

Tests to detect antibody responses to Covid-19 in the population will be critical to support the development of vaccines. Based on current data, WHO does not recommend the use of antibody-detecting rapid diagnostic tests for patient care.