Experts favour graded unlocking, mass vaccination in Karnataka to stop COVID third wave

BENGALURU: At a time when the state has extended the lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19, experts have opined that while unlocking, the government should focus on lifting the curbs in a phased, graded and time-bound manner.

They also said that if the unlock is carried out effectively, then the third wave will not even hit a peak.

The State Government recently extended the lockdown till June 14 after the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on Covid-19 suggested lifting of curbs only after the test positivity rate (TPR) falls below 5 per cent and the cases fall below 5,000.

A conference to address a safe and effective approach to unlock the state was organised by ‘SAGE (Societal Action Group of Experts) to Combat Covid-19 Calamity in Karnataka’ on Saturday.

Experts felt that all aspects should be considered while unlocking.

Unlike last year, when the Union Government released guidelines to lift curbs, this time, the State Government itself will have to frame rules.

TAC Chairman Dr M K Sudarshan, who was part of the conference, said, “The factors that need to be focused on are closed spaces which include cafeterias, pubs and bars, cinema halls, shopping malls, offices, factories, places of worship, schools and educational institutions. These are places where the risk of infection is high. Larger congregations like political rallies, fairs and festivals should be avoided. We further need to see how to unlock places — with 30%, 50% , 70% occupancy. Night curfew needs to be implemented as most of the pubs are open overnight and there is crowding.”

Meanwhile, Dr Giridhar Babu, epidemiologist at the Indian Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru, pointed out that contact tracing and testing are not done adequately in Bengaluru as the city faces manpower crunch to carry out these processes efficiently.

He also said that vaccination was important to reduce the number of cases.

“Vaccination and proper containment strategies alone helped other countries to curb Covid-19. It is not just a lockdown. We need to carry out mass vaccination. If the majority of the population is not vaccinated by November, then the third wave will certainly hit Bengaluru,” he added.