Union Health Minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan had stated that social distancing and lockdown are the only two remedies against Covid 19 since there is no known vaccine or medicine yet against the disease. Government of India has identified 133 districts which are Covid19 hotspots whereas some districts are unaffected as yet. In India today cases are doubling every 4.5 days. Meanwhile the World Health Organisation (WHO) has also cautioned that the lockdown exit strategy in India has to be carefully and selectively done so that Covid19 does not spread to other districts that were hitherto free from infection. According to the Union Health Minister the Centre in collaboration with the state governments are working out an aggressive containment strategy which is divided into large outbreaks and cluster outbreaks. This would help in designing the interventions accordingly. As of now everyone is waiting with bated breath about what will happen after April 14 and whether the lockdown will continue.
Coming to the Meghalaya and the lockdown enforcement, except for shops and business establishments being closed, the social distancing bit leaves much to be desired. Many areas beyond the Municipality (Greater Shillong) are not scrupulously practising the social distancing norms. The lockdown has not been able to stop construction activities which are carrying on as usual. This is mainly because the enforcement is left largely to the traditional institutions which do not have the manpower to enforce social distancing. People are seen moving in fours and fives and despite the lockdown vehicles, even without curfew passes are driving around. People don’t seem to respond to appeals. It has been seen that appeals to people’s emotions and conscience hardly works without the stick. But it is also not possible for the police to be present everywhere to enforce the lockdown. Hence, should there be an outbreak of Covid19 in Meghalaya then chances of community spread cannot be ruled out mainly because people violate the social distancing norm. People don’t seem to have realised the gravity of the situation.
Strict action on violation of social distancing in public spaces is necessary in order to make this a habit for as long as the Covid threat persists. It is apparent that the lockdown is unlikely to be reversed any time soon because the situation is not yet conducive. Besides, chief ministers of several states have asked that the lockdown should continue as that is the only way to contain Covid19. The economy is in the doldrums but it is a choice between peoples’ lives and the economy and clearly the former is more important for any Government.