AA Edit: Easing curbs welcome, but wider testing vital

The government’s revised lockdown guidelines issued on Wednesday allowing agriculture, several farm-related activities, work under MGNREGA and the inter-state movement of both essential and non-essential goods by road from April 20 is definitely a step in the right direction. The complete lockdown imposed from March 25 onwards to check the spread of the coronavirus cannot continue indefinitely, after all, or else millions of people already hurting due to its economic impact -- in jobs, livelihoods and in some dire cases extreme hunger – will suffer more from the closure than the pandemic.

At the same time, the government needs to ensure testing for the virus is stepped up across the board so that we know which areas are largely free of Covid-19, so more relaxations are possible there, and in which areas many more people need to be kept in isolation or quarantined. At present, we are working largely in the dark, therefore intensified testing is vital before a further easing, if not lifting, of the lockdown.

And where factories or industries have been allowed to reopen, it is crucial that those running these facilities and those who work there take the social distancing norms extremely seriously, such as maintaining a long gap between shifts wherever applicable and ensuring staggered lunch breaks in canteens, to prevent the outbreak of fresh positive cases. If that were to happen, not only would such workplaces have to be shut immediately, but it would discourage the authorities from any further opening up.

The move to allow the resumption of e-commerce and to allow courier services to operate is a good one, but some practical issues arise. By its very nature, this involves buyers and sellers located in distant areas, and at a time when stringent restrictions on movement remain in a large number of cities and states across India, one only wonders how effective it will prove. But at least a start is being made.

Pharmacies and chemist shops had been exempted from the lockdown restrictions right from the start, but the permission now specifically extended to neighbourhood clinics, infirmaries, etc, many of who were not operating or only in a limited way for the past few weeks, is extremely welcome. If people could go to the doctor or clinic near their homes, it would give them big relief, such as to heart patients and women who are pregnant, and also significantly ease the pressure on big hospitals, many of whom are understandably focused on Covid-19 cases.

Ever since the lockdown began, the government has advised people to work from home as far as possible, and both individuals and companies have abided by it. As a consequence, mobile phones, laptops and sundry devices to connect with the Internet have become a lifeline for all these millions. Thus the sale, repair and maintenance of mobiles and computers must be treated as an essential service under the lockdown rules, so that people don’t face impediments in working from home.

We will see in the coming days how the lockdown, and its possible easing, plays out. Nobody wants to see a rise in Covid-19 cases, so just as the government must widen the ambit of testing, people need to behave in a responsible manner so that we can put the pandemic behind us.