The current situation of the COVID-19 epidemic in India, particularly in Maharashtra, is worrying and calls for immediate action to be taken to save lives in the short term and, in the longer term, to reach the threshold of immunity against the virus with the lowest possible human and socioeconomic cost.
“For this generation, the world is going to be irrevocably altered. How and in what way will be spoken about in the next decade. “- Vani Kola, Kalaari Capital
“Things that once took months are now being carried out in a matter of days.” – TN Hari, BigBasket
Act Now in
Short Term…..
For India, the immediate need at this time is to reduce the pressure on the health system and save lives. For this, the priority is:
- 1.Strengthen the follow-up of isolated cases at home and compliance with hygiene and respiratory protection measures by those living together.
- 2.Expand capacities for the identification and monitoring of contacts of possible cases, with the support of digital tools and data analysis.
- 3.Raise the level of confinement (only authorize essential services) temporarily until an effective correction of the epidemic curve is achieved.
Long Term…
In the longer term, the priority is to reach the immunity threshold at the lowest possible human cost. Government must:
- 1.Perform a mass diagnosis to detect cases with acute infection and isolate them, as well as quickly identify the contacts and quarantine them.
- 2.Invest the necessary resources to test candidate drugs (chloroquine, azithromycin, antivirals, etc), with the aim of generating immunity at risk of developing a severe form of the disease.
- 3.Consider social distancing for longer-term vulnerable populations, until a treatment or vaccine is available.
Conclusion
As long as the vaccine is not available, infections can be postponed, but contagion from a high percentage of the population cannot be avoided. Therefore, urgent action is needed to increase the capacity of the health system and to strengthen compliance with measures that reduce transmission.
Thus this Pandemic has a lot and a lot to Learn more, Observe more, Search More, Reach more, Give more & Accept more…
Abhishek Majumdar
PGDM Student -Batch 2018-20
About The Author
