Smart lockdown
Warning against the disastrous consequences, medical experts demanded a complete two-week lockdown across the country to affectively fight the coron
avirus.
The ' smart lockdown' imposed by the government has failed to meet the approval of doctors, who are presumably experts in the matter of the Covid-19 pandemic. One problem with the 'smart lockdown' is that it is not lockdown enough, as in areas where it is supposed to be in effect, there do not seem to be any official measures to prevent the kind of movement that would lead to the spread of the disease.
Another perturbing issue is that the conversion of other wards into coronavirus wards would mean that other patients would have to go untreated; and what would happen if the healthcare system was to be overwhelmed. This does not factor in the result of going for 'smart lockdowns' without adequate testing facilities.
Otherwise hotspots will only be identified, not by infections, but by people developing symptoms and thus needing treatment, some of whom will ultimately die.
Likely, only testing will tell that a hotspot is no longer so. The preparations being made for the proliferation of cases at hospitals by doctors indicate the medical community's expectation of a large number of cases despite the smart lockdowns. Even now, the government can impose a strict lockdown.
The alternative is more deaths, and the economic collapse the government is so desperately trying to avoid. It should not be forgotten that the 'smart lockdown' concept is meaningless without appropriate testing capacity. First of all, it is possible to identify hotspots to apply the 'smart lockdown' by mass testing. There is no way of avoiding the inevitable, and it is essential to stop trusting people's sense of social responsibility and to enforce a strict lockdown, and follow it with both extensive testing and contact tracing. There is no other way of avoiding the spread of the pandemic.
The government must acknowledge that its smart lockdown is actually no lockdown at all. The Punjab government sealed specific areas, but these areas remained relatively open with people easily able to navigate through the blockades. Furthermore, there is a considerable body of opinion that suggests smart lockdowns alone will not prove adequate towards achieving total eradication of Covid-19 from the country.