Time for drastic measures

Drastic times call for drastic measures. Daily COVID-19 positive cases touching over 4,500 mark in Assam justifies the State government's decision to impose more restrictions on daily life. The Health system will collapse resulting in rise in fatalities if harsh measures are not taken to prevent further spread of infections. Under the new restrictive regime, all shops and commercial establishments, government and private offices shall be closed down at 2 pm on all days. Lowering the attendance in all offices to 50 per cent will achieve the objective only if it is ensured that the rest 50 per cent stays at home. Extension of night curfew hours and banning movement of general public from 6 pm to 5 am is a timely decision and must be strictly enforced through patrolling by police teams. Postponement of the High School Leaving Certificate examination by the Board of Secondary Education, Assam and the Higher Secondary examinations by the Assam Higher Secondary Educational Council has lessened the worries of candidates and their parents. Uncertainty over the examinations arising during the just concluded Assembly elections had left the candidates and parents worried. It is a wise decision as holding the examinations when the pandemic situation has deteriorated would have increased the risk of candidates, teachers, staff, and their family members getting infected by the virus. Teachers staying in touch with these candidates and parents through virtual counselling sessions can help reduce their anxiety over their career goals due to postponement and disruptions in preparations. It has become difficult for Health experts to predict as to how long the second wave of pandemic is going to last as the peak has not yet been reached in most States. The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) announcing that the new restrictions will be in force until further orders is indicative of the unpredictability gripping the pandemic situation in the State as well. Declaration of containment zones in areas with high cases infection is another drastic but much needed intervention to contain the spread. The ASDMA has authorised the district authorities to declare a city or a district or well-defined part of such geographical areas as a containment zone if test positivity reaches 10 per cent in the past one week or occupancy of oxygen-supported or Intensive Care Unit beds crosses 60 per cent. Containment zones as strategy for breaking the chain of infections did work in the first wave. However, as transmissibility of the new mutants of the virus is much more than the variants in the first wave, the requirement of oxygen and ICU support for COVID-19 patients in such containment zones cannot be lost sight of. Parallel to declaration of the containment zone, the authorities must make urgent back up arrangement for treatment of the needy. Besides, the people from areas where the infection has spread at an alarming rate but do not have enough hospital beds may be required to travel to an area having the treatment facilities of beds available.

The containment strategy may be required to be constantly reviewed to make it area-specific. The Health department will also have to keep in mind the treatment requirement of patients suffering from other ailments for which treatments are not available within the containment zones. Clamping ban on all meetings and gatherings in any open or closed spaces is welcome; but often, the police and the administration look the other way when any meeting or gathering takes place at the behest of any political party, ruling as well as opposition, in violation of such restrictions. Such leniency only encourages the general public to feel relaxed and stop worrying over pandemic spread. Political parties, leaders including ministers must set the example by asking their supporters and workers to stop crowding around them if they are serious about containing the spread of the deadly virus. Work from home has become a new normal across the world for governments and private entities. The State government has allowed work from home while limiting the office attendance to 50 per cent while e-governance has made it possible to keep the government office work running on the digital platform from any place where Internet access is available. However, closing down offices at 2 pm should not mean keeping the file work pending till the next day. Meticulous and innovative planning the work from home will prevent the pandemic disruptions affecting government functioning or delayed decisions over pending paperwork. Amidst the gloom all around, the good news is that the vaccination for 18-44 is going to start from May 7 onwards. The bigger challenge in the vaccination process is ensuring timely availability of the second doses. Online vaccine scheduling along with walk-in option for all age groups will make vaccination a safer process for all.