Not a time to panic: On India’s response to coronavirus outbreak
India must cut the transmission chain of the virus to save its health system from collapse
With the virus
galloping to 116 countries/regions causing more than 118,000 cases and
4,291 deaths, as on Wednesday, March 11, the World Health Organisation
took the last logical step the same day to spotlight the threat posed by
the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) — by declaring it a pandemic.
The announcement came as no surprise. On Monday, the WHO chief did
caution that the “threat of a pandemic has become very real” based on
the number of countries reporting new cases. On Thursday, the numbers
rose further: 1,27,863 cases and 4,718 deaths. This announcement comes
after WHO, on January 30, declared the outbreak a “public health
emergency of international concern”. Soon thereafter, it raised the
global risk level to its highest — very high. If the spread to more
countries and the cases and deaths reported till the third week of
February were of concern, it has become alarming since then. On February
22, the WHO chief warned that the “window of opportunity for containing
the virus is narrowing”. Unfortunately, many countries did not take the
warning seriously; in the last two weeks, the cases reported have
increased 13-fold and countries reporting the virus have tripled.
Outside China, Italy (12,462), Iran
(10,075) and South Korea (7,869) have the most cases. Nearly 90% of
cases reported globally are in just four countries and cases reported
daily have seen a sharp drop in China and South Korea.
Coronavirus | State Helpline numbers for COVID-19 | Interactive map of confirmed coronavirus cases in India
The
response to WHO’s new classification should not be one of panic but
must instead stir countries into changing the course of the pandemic.
While WHO had always asked all countries to take aggressive action in
viral containment, it has now become all the more important to take that
warning seriously. All countries are required to trace, detect, test,
isolate and treat cases to prevent a handful of cases from becoming
clusters, and for clusters from becoming widespread in the community and
overwhelming the health-care system. Even as India has done well in
this by testing, isolating, contact tracing and treating people, it has
so far restricted itself to people who have returned from abroad and
those who have come in contact with infected people. It may be prudent
for India to adopt a more aggressive approach by looking for cases in
the community to prevent the silent spread of the virus. In addition,
containment measures such as closing down schools and cancelling mass
gatherings in enclosed places should be done wherever necessary. Steps
such as suspending tourist visas for nearly a month starting March 13
and quarantining Indians if needed are welcome — thermal screening
cannot detect infected people who do not show symptoms yet. India should
pull out all the stops to cut the transmission chain as its fragile
public health-care system will collapse if cases rise exponentially.
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