AAYUSH PANWAR | COVID-19 have held the country tightly in its grip and in order to be free from it, the government had imposed 21-day lockdown in the country so that the chain of the Corona could be broken. But seeing the current situation the lockdown appears to be a complete failure due to some of the steps taken by the government itself.
Time is always an important factor in success of something. The same principle applies here. First step of the government should have been to ban all the international flights. Though it banned later, the step should have been taken much earlier. Further, the government should have imposed the lockdown much before than it was done. When the lockdown was imposed, the virus was already present in many of the states. The borders of the state should have been sealed when various cases were first reported from different parts of the country. Even the lockdown was made it was not made a complete lockdown like that was made in the Wuhan province of China. If it that was done the situation might have been different now. The Nizammudin Markaz meeting can also be considered a big failure on the part of the administration to stop the people from gathering. It can be seen as the failure of the government to connect to different class of the people in the country and spread the awareness regarding social distancing and the precautionary measures.
Another important aspect that the government fail to ponder upon was of the migrant workers that created huge hurdle in the process of social distancing. What happened at Delhi bus stop was to be anticipated by the government in advance and should be planned accordingly. Lakhs of people gathered there which increased the probability of the virus to spread. Another major step of government that proved against it was that of depositing the support money in the accounts of poor and laborer.
Further there are some steps that if not taken into consideration would make Lockdown a complete failure. First one would be of removing the lockdown in one go as this will expose people to the higher level of risk. The lockdown should be removed in steps and in only that place where it is feasible to do so. Another step that should be taken by the government should that the stock of all the medicines and the medical equipment should be maintained so that even if the Corona spreads it will not fall short these necessities. At last government should try to make some temporary hospitals as the current number of beds are not sufficient for the such huge population.
From the current scenario it is almost clear that the corona will surely spread at mass level in the country. The only thing that the government can control now is that the spread is in some lots so that the current medical infrastructure does not fall short. If this does not happen surely the country will face the worst pandemic in its history.
At last it is time not only to criticize the government but help them from overcoming such situation.
Stay Home Stay Safe
Aayush Panwar is an undergraduate student of Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar. He can be reached at aayushpanwar1209@gmail.com
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