Blunting the impact

With the Covid situation nationwide going from bad to worse, Delhi has decided to once again go into lockdown. From 10 PM on Monday, April 19 to 5 AM on Monday, April 26, the capital will be in a state of lockdown. Under the new rules of the lockdown, private offices, shops, shopping centres, malls, cinemas and theatres, restaurants and bars, auditoriums, gyms will be closed. As expected, there is also a complete ban on almost every kind of large social gatherings. The only exception to this is marriages where up to 50 people will be allowed and funerals/final rites where up to 20 people will be allowed. Sports complexes and swimming pools will only be kept open for the training of sportspersons participating in national and international events. Like last year, there is a list of exceptions with the list being slightly bigger this year. All essential services are, of course, allowed with emergency services, food & ration, print & electronic media all being exempted. People employed in such essential services may move about during lockdown by presenting appropriate id. No separate permission or e-pass will be required for the inter-state or intra-state movement of essential goods. In addition, people going for vaccination and testing will also be allowed. There will also be an exemption for people going to/coming from airports/railway stations/ ISBTs if they can present a valid ticket for the same. Finally, pregnant women and patients will also be allowed to travel by presenting a valid doctors prescription/identity card. This grim announcement comes in the midst of a major medical crisis in the national capital. Delhi recorded over 23,000 new cases in the last 24 hours before the decision to go into lockdown was announced. Delhi is not only fast running out of available beds but is also facing a major oxygen shortage. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal recently made a frantic appeal to the centre for the supply of oxygen. He claimed that Delhi was in a state of severe crisis and is suffering from a reduced supply as oxygen is being diverted to other states. Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh are all presently racing to secure more oxygen supplies in a frantic struggle. The Centre, however, has been rather straightforward about placing the onus of supply on the states and has even asked to keep demand under control. At the same time, the Centre has separately stated that more capacity for oxygen plants is currently being installed to meet the rise in demands. The Government also recently restricted the supply of oxygen to nine critical industries including oil refiners and waste treatment plants. Other industries will have to secure their own supply any other way they can include importing the stuff or setting up their own air separator units. This lockdown in Delhi, in essence, is a bid to buy time. CM Kejriwal has stated that he does not believe lockdowns to help fight the disease but he has asserted that lockdown will be needed to slow down the spread and buy time for Delhi health authorities to expand their facilities and procure the required materials to continue battling the contagion. This is, in other words, similar to the 'circuit breaker' mini-lockdowns done in Europe to manage surges without relying on extended lockdowns like we saw last year. On the whole, there is a distinct possibility for other states and UTs to follow Delhi into this kind of lockdown if the local Covid situation exceeds the capacity of the medical systems. Maharashtra, for instance, recorded around 67,000 new cases over the last 24 hours and CM Thackeray has been reported as considering a complete lockdown to break the ongoing spike. As CM Kejriwal noted, these lockdowns can only be used to buy time. We can only slow down transmission by following the proper safety precautions and not giving in to the fatigue. A major difference from last year is that we have vaccines available now as well which offer a concrete way forward to combat this massive spike in cases. The government must swiftly address the vaccine supply issues that have cropped up in recent days and redouble efforts to vaccinate more and more people. Only then we can break out of the pattern of employing disruptive lockdowns every time there is a massive surge in case count.