BENGALURU: I believe the lockdown should have been lifted. There were two main objectives that the government wanted to achieve – one, to contain spread of the virus, and second, to track the spread. Through the extended lockdown that we are under, the government has gained a fair sense of the affected numbers, and containment localities.

Areas where the spread is under control or not present, should have resumed operation, with measures in place. But heavily-infected areas/cities have to be extremely careful. Until a vaccine or cure for the virus is developed, life will not be the same as it used to be.

It will be extremely difficult even when it comes to businesses and how they operate. Malls, theatres, pubs and aircraft are places where social distancing cannot be maintained. For instance, for an airline, it wouldn’t be economical to operate at 50 per cent capacity. These businesses will find it difficult and will have to be innovative with their plans to bounce back.

We have to maintain social distancing with many businesses now having set up a system for their employees to work from home. Companies have to be critical in terms of how they want to operate keeping safety parameters in mind, and whether they require to resume operations as they used to earlier. Once things come back to normal, businesses will have to be careful with how they plan and utilise their resources. Even in the long term view, people will be extremely cautious and safety will be of utmost importance. This will have a major change on how businesses further operate.