WHEN CAN INDIA EXPECT THE IMPOSED LOCKDOWN TO END? AN EXPERT’S LIST OF IMPORTANT DETAILS!

The lockdown in India, imposed in order to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus was originally intended to end on April 14. However, the central government had extended the lockdown period until May 03. Given that the total number of cases in India has surpassed 20,000, experts believe that the lockdown needs to be extended further, in order to minimise the chances of having a second wave of serious community spread.

In an exclusive interview with India Today, on Wednesday, Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of leading health journal ‘The Lancet’, suggested that the minimum lockdown in India has to be 10 weeks. He also added that in the absence of it, all the good work achieved during this period will be lost, paving the way to a more deadly situation in the nearest future. “The epidemic in each country won’t go on forever, it will burn itself out. Countries are doing the right thing to control the outbreak. If the lockdown is successful in India, you could see a decline in the epidemic around the end of a 10-week time course,” Horton said.

In comparison, Spain which has reported over 2 lakh cases, has extended its lockdown until May 09, marking a period of 57 days. Almost 86,000 recoveries and close to 22,000 deaths have been recorded. However, from the remaining 1 lakh cases, 92 per cent are in mild condition. Hence the country has been immensely benefited from the extension. Italy, which has also been under lockdown for the same number of days and it now has 98 per cent of the cases in mild condition.

On the other hand, Austria which had reported 14,000 cases as of April 14, a little over India, opened small shops because of a higher recovery rate and a flattened curve. Hence, India might only lift the lockdown based on the rate of recovery, while keeping a check on the existing positive cases and the number of new cases.

“I understand you have to resume economic activity but please don’t rush this... if you rush lifting the lockdown and if you have the second wave (of disease), it will be even worse than the first,” warned Horton.