Coronavirus lockdown in Maharashtra: Full lockdown will lead to terrible consequences, says WHO chief scientist

Even as several states are contemplating complete lockdown to bring the increasing number of Coronavirus cases under control, chief scientist of the World Health Organisation(WHO) Dr Soumya Swaminathan has advised against lockdown. Dr Swaminathan told the Indian Express that the consequences of imposing another complete lockdown would be terrible even as she appealed to people to maintain physical distance and comply with all Coronavirus guidelines.

In addition to Dr Swaminathan, many experts in India have also objected strongly against complete lockdown. Prof L S Shashidhara, who is a professor at IISER, Pune and Ashoka University told the Indian Express that the community transmission of the virus is rampant and even during the lockdown, the virus will keep spreading in local communities. Citing previous instances of lockdown he added that people tend to get more relaxed after the lockdown is lifted and once the imposed lockdown is lifted an even higher number of cases will be reported.

On the vaccination front, Dr Swaminathan said that successive waves of Coronavirus remain a possibility until a large section of populace has been vaccinated against Coronavirus and gets immunised against the disease. She further said that the second wave needs to be reined in as quickly as possible and a large number of people be vaccinated at the earliest. According to the latest vaccination guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation, the 2 doses of Covishield vaccine can be inoculated with a gap of about 8-12 weeks. This way more people could be vaccinated in a shorter period.

Talking about the vaccine guidelines, Dr Swaminathan said that the vaccines so far have not been recommended for children. She also said that by stretching the gap between two doses of Coronavirus vaccine upto 12 weeks more and more people can be inoculated with the vaccine quickly. At present, the country is vaccinating a total of 26 lakh people daily in comparison to the United States which is vaccinating the highest number of people- 30 lakh- in a day.