Announcing the national lockdown to contain pandemic Covid-19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 cautioned the people that it could take us 21 days to win the war against the virus as opposed to the 18 days the Pandavas took in the Mahabharata.
The Prime Minister’s announcement was followed by assessments of experts and think-tanks about the time we would take to flatten the curve of the spread of the infection.
On his part, Mr Modi further exhorted the people to say thanks to the medical fraternity for their service in the Covid warfare; he also got the armed forces join the thanksgiving ceremony with a floral show.
In between, the country extended the lockdown twice, and we are now in Unlock 1.0.
It is now going to be three months in a couple of days since lockdown 1.0 was announced. Far from being over, the war gets worse by the day.
The total number of cases crossed four lakhs on Sunday with the single biggest spike of 15,413 cases; it was less than 500 on March 25. The number of infections had reached 1 lakh in 64 days and 2 lakh in 15 days; and in 10 days, it added the next one lakh. Nobody now talks about flattening the curve. And the less said about the medical fraternity, the better.
Hospitals in major cities are being overwhelmed while doctors and other staff get infected. Shortage of personal protective equipment, the sourcing of which has been taken over by the Union government, has been reported from all over.
The machinery of the state governments, which are fighting the war on the ground, is at the end of their tether; it could fray any moment, thanks to the lack of financial, human and knowledge resources.
In between, this nation left the lakhs of guest workers to their fate, and many of them met with it while trekking their way home.
It is not that there is no silver lining.
There are states such as Kerala and Karnataka that have resisted the advance of the virus successfully. Dharavi, Asia’s biggest slum where 8 to 10 people live in one facility and use shared toilets, has chased the virus out, thanks to the determined efforts of the
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the Maharashtra government. Bhilwara was an earlier success story. They all had one single script: aggressive contact tracing, testing, quarantine and treatment.
The Union health ministry meticulously lauds success stories, but that’s not enough.
The government must make it clear if it really wants to win the war on the virus and if yes, then it should taking cues from successful models, and roll it out across the country with all the powers at its command. It must also reinforce the states’ war chest by helping them financially.
Mythological recall and exhortation of yoga to win the war do no harm, but no good either; it will be as useful as the floral show and banging of the plates did for the healthcare workers.
Time the Prime Minister and the government he leads get down to the real task.
