Top US epidemiologist Anthony Fauci suggested that India must impose a complete lockdown for a few weeks as an immediate step to contain the surging infections which have brought the country’s healthcare system to its knees.
Fauci is the chief medical adviser to the Biden administration and is one of the most trusted people to speak on the Covid-19 pandemic. He said it is unnecessary to shut down a country for six months; instead, it can be done for few weeks and will still end the transmission cycle.
Fauci cited China’s example and said that the country closed all its establishment last year when the Covid-19 cases exploded.
Looking at the magnitude of the crisis, he said India should put together a crisis group that would meet and starts getting things organized.
In an interview with The Indian Express, Fauci said another most important thing is to get supplies of oxygen, medication, and PPEs immediately.
Without naming any government, he said one of the things that should have been recognized that “victory was declared maybe too prematurely.”
“Lockdown so that you wind up having less spread. No one likes to lock down the country. Well, that’s a problem when you do it for six months,” he said.
Underlining that vaccination plays a crucial role in handling the coronavirus situation, Fauci said if India, a country with 1.4 billion people, has fully vaccinated only two percent of its total population, it still has a long way to go.
“I would leave no stone unturned in getting as many companies as you possibly can to be able to make a contractual arrangement to get vaccines. And also, India is the largest vaccine-producing country in the world. That’s the thing; you should rev up your capabilities to make vaccines,” Fauci added.
There have been cases where people have died due to a lack of medical facilities, including oxygen. In many cases, families have to arrange oxygen for their patients as they cannot get admission in hospitals.
India is reeling under the second and deadlier wave of the coronavirus pandemic that has been wreaking havoc, infecting lakhs and killing thousands every day for the past few days.
