Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Peer-reviewed American medical journal The Lancet’s Covid-19 Commission India Task Force has “strongly recommended” a complete ban for two months on all indoor public gatherings to break the chain of virus transmission and halt further spread of the pandemic whose second wave is wreaking havoc across the country with over two lakh infections a day recorded for three days this week.
The country reported more than 2.34 lakh new infections and 1,341 deaths due to Covid-19 in the 24 hours ending 0800 hours on Saturday
The Lancet’s recommendations came on a day Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the Hindu saints to keep the remaining period of the Haridwar Mahakumbh (until April 30) only symbolic in nature to help contain the spread of the scourge. The second wave, which began to surge in March, has turned India into the second most infected country after the US.
The Task Force said all gatherings of groups larger than 10 people should be temporarily banned as public health concerns need to override any other considerations. It also urged the closure of all movie theatres, sports arena, and stadia where more than 50 people could gather, across the country, for a similar period.
These measures can help control the surge of infections in India, it reported.
The Task Force attributed the ongoing surge to religious events (Haridwar’s Mahakumbh and the Ramadan month, for example), political activities (like state elections), and social gatherings (revival of marriage and sports seasons).
“We strongly recommend a temporary ban on gatherings of groups larger than 10 for the next two months,” the Task Force said, adding “We believe that public health concerns need to override any other considerations, given the risk of infection, morbidity, and mortality”.
It also urged the government for greater vigilance to monitor for surges in infections, especially in districts to which people will return from such crowded events.
Besides, the Task Force has also recommended community-led, decentralized tracing, testing and isolating, and community monitoring. Accurate and immediate testing, tracing, and isolating are a cornerstone of effective Covid-19 management.
“As numbers rise steeply, following up with contact tracing, testing, and isolating becomes a challenge at the national or state level,” the report said.
It is time now for the community to help in tracing and isolating these cases, the Task Force said, and recommended locally managed tracing, testing and isolating efforts and scaling them up across the country, particularly “in the states bearing the brunt of the new infections, border districts to high caseload states, and home states for migrants from high caseload states.”
The Task Force said that district-level teams to identify and trace contacts, test, and isolate Covid-19 patients already exist. “We recommend they are strengthened and supported by the state and national task forces.”
“It is best to involve local communities in ensuring support to Covid patients without stigmatization or laxity,” the report said.
It also added that community care centers already exist in several cities which could be deployed and scaled up for isolating Covid-19 patients in areas with a dense population.