Should India Go Under a Strict Lockdown Again?

On 25th March 2020, India went on a complete lockdown when there were only 650 cases of COVID-19. For the 21-Days Nationwide lockdown, everything was shut down except medicine shops and essential good stores. Restrictions were strict and unnecessary roaming around was prohibited. Police even charged the common man with batons to keep them in their respective homes. About 50–100 cases were reported daily. In other words, strict rules were implemented.
3 months have passed. Unlock Phase 1 and Phase 2 happened. Now the number of cases has surpassed the mark of 600,000, which is almost 1000 times from the numbers which India saw before lockdown. Markets are open, negligible social distancing is observed, and state borders have been opened. Also, the daily number of cases have increased. Not by 1000, not by 2000, but the daily average rise in COVID-19 cases has become 19000–20000. India is now the World’s third worst-hit COVID-19 country with around 450 deaths on a daily basis.
Some medical experts are suggesting that in order to prevent the rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus, nationwide lockdown should be implemented again with strict restrictions but the question is for how many days? Keeping an eye on both the sides and analyzing the facts, it has been seen that during this lockdown, there were huge revenue loss for the country. Big business giants even decided to go for an employee-cut which left many people jobless. However, some MNC and other organizations have given the option for work from home. Also, it is to be kept in mind that the number of tests on a daily basis are also increasing to track the spread of COVID-19.
After looking at the strategy of Wuhan’s lockdown which was implemented a month after the first case reported on the mainland, the strategy seems to be brutal but effective. Everything was shut down except for shops selling foods and vegetables. Vehicles without special permission were prohibited on the roads. All international flights were barred from entering Hubei. Masks were made mandatory, even local administration scolded people who went out for essentials without masks. Initially, the strategy seemed to be very brutal but as time passed, it showed it’s effect.
India’s population density is somewhat similar to China’s. After Unlock 1.0 and 2.0, the persons who went jobless are slowly returning back to work. Comparing with China, India has now more than 7 times the cases of China with around 250,000 active patients while China has only 350 active patients. Every nation is now busy making an efficient vaccine for COVID-19.
In my opinion, if a lockdown is imposed again, this time hot spots should be on the focus list. People who are coming out of hot spot regions or are entering hot spot regions need to be tracked. Door-To-Door delivery of essentials to be done in red zones. Daily Rapid Test needs to be done in order to track any kind of community spread of the virus. In this way, the spread of the virus will be terminated and gradually, the condition will come under control. So, there is no need of imposing a nationwide lockdown again.
Health and Wealth are the two main priorities of a nation. India has faced a huge revenue loss due to the lockdown and is not willing to face more losses. Many people lost their jobs, migrant laborers are left unemployed, some people even left with none of their savings. Instead of nationwide lockdown, the authorities should focus more on Red Zones.
COVAXIN is also expected to come out on 15th August for dosage purposes. We hope this news turns out to be true and everyone affected may get healed.

Stay Home, Stay Safe.