Health to precede over economy in lockdown review, says Naidu
NEW DELHI: Vice President Venkaiah Naidu has s ai d t hat between the health of the people and stabilization of the economy being debated, the former shall take precedence over the later.
In a statement, Naidu said, “In my view, while the concerns of economy can wait for another day, that of health can’t.”
The next one week of the lockdown is very critical for evolving an exit strategy since the data regarding the spread of the virus and its rate during the next week will have a bearing on the decision, the Vice President said.
Naidu s ai d t he Tablighi Jamaat congregation and the resultant cases were avoidable and altered the nature of the corona curve.
“Amidst our collective efforts against the virus showing signals of success in arresting the spread of Corona virus, came the Tablighi Jamaat congregation which had altered the nature of the curve with most of the new infected cases emanating from this meet”, he said.
Naidu added that the extent of participation in this congregation and it’s multiplier effect has upset the expectations. This avoidable episode highlighted the consequences of any slip by way of violating the rules of social and physical distancing to contain the spread of the virus, he added.
“In that sense, this avoidable aberration should only be seen as an eye opener to all others”, Naidu said. “As today marks the completion of two weeks of nationwide lockdown in force since March 25, I thought it appropriate to reach out to the people and the leadership of the country with my views and concerns amidst current efforts to tide over the crisis caused by the outbreak of corona virus”, he added.