Shut down India for a 'few weeks': Dr Fauci on COVID-19

New Delhi, May 01: As India reels under second wave of coronavirus pandemic, White House Chief Medical Adviser Anthony Fauci has suggested that India should go for a 'few weeks to curb the chain of covid transmission.

In an exclusive interview to the Indian Express, Dr Fauci said that "NO nation likes to lock itself down but an "immediate" shutdown for a "few weeks" will provide a window, to take critical "immediate, intermediate, and long range" steps out of this "very difficult and desperate" situation.

Quoting Chinese example, he said, "We know that when China had this big explosion a year ago, they completely shut down. And if you shut down, you don't have to shut down for six months. You can shut down temporarily to put an end to the cycle of transmission. So one of the things to be considered is to temporarily shut down. Literally, lock down so that you wind up having less spread," he said.

Speaking on the oxygen crisis in India, Dr Fauci said that the country should form a crisis group or committee to make a plan how to get oxygen; how do we get supplies; hot to get medications, and other things. India can also take help from WHO countries.

Dr Fauci also suggested to immediately get military help like, in the United States, how they have used National Guard to help distribute the vaccinations.

With more than 4 lakh COVID-19 cases, India records world’s highest single-day spike

Expressing concern over vaccination India Dr Fauci said, two per cent vaccination in a country like India is a very serious situation. You absolutely have to get more people vaccinated.

Dr Fauci also said that we are in a war against the virus but the victory against the coronavirus was declared by the Indian government "too prematurely". He suggested that government should build field hospitals like they do during the war times and help more people get vaccinated at the earliest.

Earlier, Dr Fauci came in support of Covaxin, India's home-grown Covid vaccine produced by Bharat Biotech, saying it has been found to neutralise the B.1.617 variant or the Indian double mutant strain.

"So despite the real difficulty that we're seeing in India, vaccination could be a very, very important antidote against this," Dr Fauci was quoted as telling reporters.

"So I'll stop there with the final statement. The one thing you can gather from everything I've said: that it's very important to get vaccinated."

Coronavirus cases in India hit a record daily high with over 4 lakh new infections being reported in the last 24 hours, while the active cases crossed the 32-lakh mark.

The infection tally rose to 1,91,64,969 with 4,01,993 new cases, while the death toll increased to 2,11,853 with 3,523 daily new fatalities.