endIndex:
(CNN) Millions of Indians are living under a mix of locally-imposed coronavirus restrictions, as the central government resists calls from leading medical experts for a nationwide lockdown.
The Indian Medical Association earlier this month said a complete, well-planned, pre-announced national lockdown for 10 to 15 days would give the country s overstretched health system time to recoup and replenish both the material and manpower it needs.
And top US coronavirus advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci on May 9 said of India: You ve got to shut down . you need to break the chain of transmission.
However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi s government has done that before, and learned a very painful lesson. Experts say shutting down the nation again is not realistic.
India Covid-19: Calls are growing for another national lockdown. That's not realistic
cnn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cnn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
India Covid-19: Calls are growing for another national lockdown. That's not realistic
msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Covid-19 crisis in India: What you need to know about the cases, variants, vaccines in the second wave CNN 1 day ago By Jessie Yeung, CNN © Anindito Mukherjee/Getty Images A man performs the last rites of a relative who died of Covid-19, as other funeral pyres are seen burning during a mass cremation in New Delhi, India, on April 24.
In February, it seemed like India had gotten Covid-19 under control, with daily cases falling nearly 90% from the peak of the first wave last year.
Now, the country is experiencing the world s worst outbreak, with new cases surging past 400,000 per day and breaking the record for the highest single-day figure globally.
“It is hard to understand why corrective action was not taken at beginning of second wave,” says Chandrika Bahadur.
As India grapples with a massive second wave, Chandrika Bahadur, chair of the Regional Task Force of the Lancet Commission, speaks to The Hindu on why this happened and the way ahead ….
India is undergoing a very severe second wave of COVID-19, something that could have been anticipated. What in your view went wrong in terms of anticipation and capacity building?
India prepared reasonably well for the pandemic in its early stages. The lockdown gave the medical system time to expand infrastructure, train staff, and build capacity to absorb patients. The rationale for lockdowns across the world in March-April 2020 was to “flatten the curve”. It meant taking actions that would bring down the number of cases that needed hospitalisation and treatment enough that they would not breach the limits of the medical capacity of the country. This preparation allowed th