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Even an ‘imperfect’ lockdown has helped to bring down infections: Experts
Even an ‘imperfect’ lockdown has been useful in bringing down COVID-19 infections and the hospitals being flooded with patients, is the view of numerous experts.
The authorities on Friday (September 17) further extended the lockdown till October 1, as the country recorded a total number of 500,772 infections from the beginning of the pandemic last year, with the daily infections being 2,078 on Friday. The total death toll from COVID-19 is 11,938 with 121 succumbing on Friday.
Many experts said that the numbers seeking treatment at hospitals had come down, with more elderly patients being seen. The reduction in numbers could also be due to vaccination.
“It is vital to keep stressing the public health message that the new coronavirus should not be taken lightly. COVID-19 is not ‘just’ a cold. It is deadly. Even when the country is gradually opened up, taking into account whether the environment is conducive to such action, people should be told that we cannot go back to the pre-pandemic normal,” one expert said.
Another said that “we need to adapt to the new normal”. Everyone should be a role model to the other, from those in the highest strata downward, in scrupulously following preventive measures. Gatherings should not be held, even small ones, and gatherings should be shunned by one and all.
When asked whether the recorded drop in infection rates is due to a reduction in the number of tests (RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen Tests) being performed, many said that the number of people seeking testing at hospitals had also dropped.
This could be that the infection is reducing in society or that people are having mild disease which they overcome without much trouble and without getting themselves tested, an expert said, adding that a close eye should be kept on whether there are people reporting with post-COVID issues who had not been detected with COVID in the first instance.