Loads of challenges as COVID-19 lockdown begins to ease

The lockdown has eased. It is going to ease even further. Already around 100 ‘Shramik’ trains ferrying migrant labour are plying from various cities to destination states. Air India’s repatriation flights have started, to bring people back from foreign lands—the US, UK, Singapore, Gulf.

Even Navy ships are being used. Passenger trains (limited edition) will ply from New Delhi today. The protocol for opening domestic airways is ready with the civil aviation ministry, awaiting a nod. The thrust of the prime minister’s marathon meeting with chief ministers was mostly on how to get back to normalcy, with an actionable exit plan the states can implement.

The fight against COVID-19 has also turned into a fight for economic survival of the states—and that has all the focus despite the rising numbers since May 3. The green zones have decreased alarmingly from
319 to 179, in tandem with a rise in orange zones to 418.

In other words, the virus is slowly but surely spreading to hitherto unaffected districts. They still are a sizable number, 268 districts, so the cash-starved states want full economic activities in those COVID-free areas.

Experts, however, warn that positive cases (67,152 now) and deaths (2,206) will grow exponentially if the lockdown is totally and irrevocably lifted. Already India’s R0—the number of people a COVID-positive person will infect—has not improved compared to the Western world, even vis-a-vis the US and Italy, which were at a far worse place two weeks ago.

Right now, we don’t even know if herd immunity would take longer to develop than a vaccine. Mass congregations—like the one witnessed in Bengaluru on Sunday when a minister decided to distribute food rations to some 10,000 people—will continue to be dangerous and counterproductive.

Karnataka’s number has climbed steadily to 862, despite a grim battle. We need a plan to help save people from hunger and COVID both. It can’t be either/or.