COVID-19: India Fights Pandemic

India has mounted efforts to fight the COVID- 19 pandemics which is sweeping through several countries across the world. The pandemic in India has claimed two lives so far. A 76-year-old Kalaburgi man with a travel history to Saudi Arabia died of COVID-19 symptoms and other underlying, pre-existing conditions. A 69-year-old Delhi woman whose son returned from Italy also died from COVID-19 symptoms and other similar conditions as the Karnataka victim.

Steps and Challenges

• • The Government of India has invoked provisions of the EpidemicDiseases Act 1897 to tackle the health emergency.
• • The Centre has also barred all visas except diplomatic, UN body professionals, projects and certain other categories.
• • Cities and states across the country have gone into a near lockdown mode.
• • Malls, theatres schools and public places in many states including Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, UP, Rajasthan, Jammu and Delhi have been closed.
• • IPL 2020 has been postponed and is likely to commence on April 15.
• • Face masks and sanitisers have been declared as essential items.
• • The Supreme Court has announced that it will take up only urgent matters and has limited its functioning.
• • The Indian Navy has set up a quarantine facility in Mumbai.
• • The Union Health Ministry has been asked to conduct daily briefings.
• • The Ministries of Finance, Commerce and External Affairs have also been asked to hold daily briefings.
• • The Indian Army has cancelled its recruitment rallies for now.
• • Air India has cancelled/curtailed flights to Italy, France, Spain, Germany, South Korea, Kuwait and Israel.
• • There will be no trains and buses plying between India and Bangladesh for one month.

Challenges

• • With high population density, India faces the challenge of containing the spread of COVID-19 from sweeping through the population.
• • The doctor-patient ratio in India is believed to be below 1000 to 1. this is a major hurdle in reaching out to patients in a pandemic situation.
• • The number of isolation wards in states across the country is very limited and will have to be augmented.
• • While the government has set up 57 laboratories so far, more testing facilities for COVID-19 need to come up across the country.
• • More healthcare professionals need to be trained to tackle the emergency.
• • Awareness campaigns need to be mounted on a massive scale for the message to reach communities.