Cut down political rallies to curb Covid cases, says IMA chief

Dr J.A. Jayalal says imposing curfew or lockdown won’t be able to curtail spread of the virus.

As the daily Covid-19 cases have crossed the 2 lakh mark in India and governments have imposed curfew in states like Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, experts have said that instead of imposition of curfew to check the surge of cases, the government should focus on restricting indoor gatherings such as at theatres, malls and wedding halls.

Talking to The Sunday Guardian, Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, vice chairman of the epidemiology cell-Indian Medical Association-Kochi, said, “There are two main reasons. One, all virus has set behaviourial patterns. Almost 99% of the people are coming in contact with the virus now. Moreover, last year, people were on high alert. They knew that if they don’t follow Covid-appropriate behaviour, a calamity may occur. We overcame the pandemic without serious casualty. This was because people behaved responsibly.”

“Two, viruses undergo natural change and there is substantial evidence that the virus spreads faster. And the fundamental nature of virus is that it keeps coming in waves. Every year, there will be 2-3 waves,” Dr Rajeev Jayadevan told The Sunday Guardian.

Dr J.A. Jayalal, President of the Indian Medical Association, told The Sunday Guardian, “This is the second wave and is expected in any pandemic. This happened because preventive measures and Covid-appropriate behaviour is not being followed. The new strain has played an important role as it spreads faster.”

On what the government should focus on to curtail the spread of the virus, Dr Rajeev Jayadevan told The Sunday Guardian, “The government should restrict indoor gatherings such as inside cinema theatres, malls and wedding halls. It is because of the indoor gatherings that the virus spreads faster. Furthermore, the government should vaccinate everybody as soon as possible.”

Dr Jayalal told The Sunday Guardian, “The government should cut down election rallies, restrict public and religious gatherings and ensure that social distancing and Covid-appropriate behaviour are followed by the public. Eventually, imposing curfew or lockdown won’t be able to curtail the spread of the virus.”

With several states facing vaccine shortage in the last couple of weeks, several political parties have urged the Centre to allow the states to purchase vaccines from the market. On this, Dr Jayalal told The Sunday Guardian, “If the vaccines are purchased from the open market, there is scope of black marketing and other malpractices. As of now, the government is making the vaccines available to the states in sufficient quantities. In the future, there will be improvement in the situation.”