Amidst reports of people in various parts of India not taking coronavirus lockdown seriously, the Microbiologists Society of India has warned that such casual attitude may leave the hospitals flooded with patients by April-end and situation will be unmanageable.
Several videos have emerged of people taking out rallies and performing garba during the 14-hour curfew on Sunday, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take to twitter and point out that people are still not taking the lockdown seriously.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, the microbiologists association urged him to extend the Janta curfew for a period of two weeks to be strictly implemented to break the chain of transmission of Coronavirus that has sniped over 14,000 lives across the world. In India, the tally is almost nearing to touch 500 infected cases.
Dr AM Deshmukh, President of the Society in the letter said, “The Microbiologists Society sincerely appreciate the efforts you are taking to control coronavirus, a pandemic disease. We urge you to implement Janata Curfew for 14 more days to break the chain as 14 days is considered to be the maximum incubation period for this virus.”
He added that the microbiologists “are sure” that implementation of the Janata Curfew for continuous 14 days will control the outbreak and “succeed to bring the outbreak in reverse direction”.
Deshmukh also warned that the situation will be “unmanageable” by the last week of April if not taken seriously.
He asserted that the the one-day curfew helped a lot and now we need to extend it to 14 days. If we do, then India will not have a single new case. According to his calculations, he said, India will record 1,000 positive coronavirus cases by 30 March.