Lockdown 4.0
18 May, beginning of lockdown 4.0, India surpassed China at 90648 with total deaths of 2871 at doubling time of 12 days. India reached a landmark by performing 100000 tests in one day.
Interestingly, On 11 March, there were total 118319 cases globally which are very close to 118226 (about 2.3% of global cases) in India on 22 May when the world is sitting at 5190496.
We crossed 60000 cases on 10 May and 120000 on 22 May. If anyone interested in doubling time, it was 7 days on 14 April and 12 days on 22 May. Hopefully, strategy was working!
Countdown Begins with Lockdown 5.0 and Unlock 1.0
Ministry of Home Affairs has issued the order on 30 May about extending Lockdown (Lockdown 5.0) in the containment zones upto 30 June 2020, and to re-open the prohibited activities outside the containment zones (Unlock 1.0).
We have a huge challenge ahead of us as number of cases are rising and restrictions are easing out. Our Hon’ble Prime Minister laid great emphasis on ‘social distancing’ through the slogan ‘do gaj ki doori- bahut zaroori (a distance of two yards is very important). It is hard to predict what is going to happen after easing out movements, restrictions and opening of businesses. At the time of closing this blog (10.30 AM IST on 31 May 2020), India had 182143 confirmed cases with 86984 recovered & 5164 deaths, and Maharashtra leading with highest cases at 65168 (reported by ‘Aarogya Setu’, an app developed by Government of India with 118.2 million users). A total of 3737027 samples were tested (at 9 AM IST, 31 May 2020 on icmr.gov.in).
In last three months, India has achieved tremendously- everyone had done their bits- salute to all those who are at the front line and also to those supporting from the backend to make a sustainable emergency response system. As per the testing capacity report from ICMR, in January 2020, India had only one laboratory testing for COVID-19, at the Indian Council of Medical Research’s National Institute of Virology, Pune. As on 21 May, there were 555 laboratories across the country, performing molecular tests for diagnosis of COVID-19 - an unparalleled achievement in the history of the Indian health system.
The role of strong leadership at all levels driving down from Hon’ble Prime Minister, health system which responded to emergency, an implemented quality management system and infection prevention & control programme in the hospitals to contain the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 amongst healthcare workers and provide appropriate care to patients, has helped respond to this crisis.
Let’s wait and watch how Unlock 1.0 would impact the scenario. Tough time ahead however, we Indian are well known to win a fight
