Lockdown in India for a few weeks, US medical Advisor Dr Fauci

Anthony Fauci, the US' top epidemiologist and one of the leading global voices on the coronavirus pandemic, suggested India must impose a complete lockdown for a few weeks as an immediate step to contain the surging infections which have brought the country's healthcare system to its knees. "Well, one of the things you really need to do, to the extent that you can, is shut down temporarily the country, I think it is important. India is in a very difficult and desperate situation. So when you have a situation like that you’ve got to look at the absolute immediate," Fauci told the Indian Express.

He said another most important thing in the immediate is to get supplies of oxygen, medication, PPEs. He also said looking at the magnitude of the crisis, India should look at putting together a crisis group that would meet and start getting things organised. Dr Fauci said it is not necessary to shut down a country for six months, instead, it can be done for few weeks and it will still end the cycle of transmission. "Literally, lockdown so that you wind up having less spread. No one likes to lock down the country. Well, that's a problem when you do it for six months. It can have a significant impact on the Covid-19 dynamics," he added.

Fauci also said that the victory over Covid-19 was "declared maybe too prematurely" in India. He did not name anyone while making the statement. Fauci also suggested that the country should build temporary hospitals like "they put up these field hospitals that they built during war" quickly. Underlining that vaccination plays a crucial role in handling the Covid-19 situation, Fauci said if India, a country of 1.4 billion people, has fully vaccinated only two per cent of its total population, then it has a very long way to go. India is reeling under the second and deadlier wave of the coronavirus pandemic. On Saturday, the number of daily coronavirus cases in India crossed the 400,000 mark for the first time as the country struggled to contain the pandemic. As of Saturday morning, the country’s tally stands at 19,164,969 and the death toll has gone up to 211,853.