Relaxation and reopening should be strategic: Health expert

In an exclusive interaction with ETV Bharat, public health expert Dr Suneela Garg said that Covid lockdown relaxations should be more strategic as coronavirus has not gone out of our lives.

New Delhi:As India witnessed more relaxation over Covid-19 restrictions from Monday, renowned public health expert and professor of excellence, community medicine at the Maulana Azad Medical College Dr Suneela Garg told ETV Bharat, on Monday that the relaxation should be more strategic.

"Virus has not gone out from our lives. The country is still fighting with the Delta variants. As many as 123 countries are fighting with the Delta variants. Five states in India got a Covid positivity rate of more than 10 per cent. In such a situation, the relaxation should be more strategic," said Dr Garg who is also the president of the Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine (IAPSM).

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Notably, after closure for three months PVR in Delhi has been opened from Monday. The government has also allowed Delhi metro to run with 100 per cent capacity. Many of the state governments have started giving more relaxation for economic activities. "Only 43 crore of our population have been vaccinated which shows that a majority of the population are yet to get vaccine," she said.

Dr Garg who is also the president of Organised Medicine Academic Guild (OMAG) said that the serosurvey findings of 67 per cent of people having seroprevalence do not give us a sense of complicity. "We have to open everything but with caution. If we talk about Delhi, it shares its border with Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. This also makes the national capital more prone as far as the spread of infection is concerned...We have to be more vigilant," added Dr Garg.

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She stated that many foreign countries are in a bad shape after withdrawing restrictions in a hurry. "A majority of our population are still susceptible to the infection. So, we need to vaccinate our people more largely," said Dr Garg. She cautioned that the reopening should be made keeping the possible third wave in mind. "Our vaccination process is also very slow. We need to speed up the vaccination process," said Dr Garg.

Referring to the vaccines for children below 18 years of age, Dr Garg said that many of the vaccine manufacturers are currently doing the trial including Bharat Biotech, Zycovid, Moderna and Pfizer. "By September, the picture will be more clear. The Bharat Biotech is in its third phase. Vaccine manufacturers like Pfizer, Moderna are doing trials for children below 12 years of age," said Dr Garg.

It may be mentioned here that the number of Covid cases and deaths in India has been witnessing a decrease even as 47 districts across India have been witnessing a positivity rate of more than 10 per cent. Covid cases in Northeastern states, Rajasthan, Kerala, Maharastra and Puducherry is still a matter of concern.

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