Severe lockdown disastrous for nation, experts tell Rahul
New Delhi, May 27: A severe lockdown can be disastrous for a country like India and might end up killing more people than the disease itself, two experts who were conversing with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on the Covid-19 outbreak in India opined on Wednesday. They also called for aggressive testing to prevent its spread.
While US health expert Prof. Ashish Jha exuded confidence that a vaccine for the highly infectious disease will be available in a year's time, Prof. Johan Giesecke from Sweden said India should adopt a “soft” lockdown as a severe one will ruin its economy.
A severe lockdown can be disastrous for a country like India and might end up killing more people than the disease itself, two experts who were conversing with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on the Covid19 outbreak in India opined on Wednesday.
“A severe lockdown can cause more deaths than the illness,” Professor Johan Giesecke, a Swedish infectious diseases expert, told Mr Gandhi.
“India would ruin its economy if it has a very severe lockdown,” Professor Giesecke said adding that Coronavirus, which is a “very mild disease,” will affect “almost everyone in the world”.
“The disease is very mild. Most people who have it are not even aware. While the old and
vulnerable need to be protected from the disease, you may cause more deaths due to a severe lockdown than the illness,” he added as Mr Gandhi spoke about the plight of the migrants
According to Professor Ashish Jha of the Harvard University, “Lockdown buys you time but it’s not the goal unto itself. We have to use this time to create a fabulous infrastructure for testing and isolation and to convince people that life will be very different. There is a lot of work that needs to be done. A clear signal is sent to people — you tell them this is much more serious, potentially devastating than any other illness. If people are scared, they will not engage into economic activity. I haven’t seen any country that has done this brilliantly”.
Mr Gandhi has been speaking with a range of experts on the strategy to contain Coronavirus spread in India, including nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee and former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan.
During discussions with the two health experts on Wednesday, he said: “Most places that are affected (by the pandemic) are nerve centres of globalisation. If people say 9/11 is a chapter, Coronavirus is a book”.
On an exit strategy for the lockdown, the Wayanad MP was told that a “stepwise exit” is more advisable.