Government should rethink lockdown strategy, say public health experts

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Kathmandu, April 10

Public well being specialists have recommended that the federal government ought to rethink its lockdown technique with new approaches, reminiscent of permitting motion inside sure areas by imposing strict social distancing measures.

They are of the view that a blanket lockdown in a rustic like Nepal, the place tens of millions of individuals exit to work each day to place meals on the desk, may create different social issues.

Epidemiologist and public well being professional Sujan Marahatta mentioned there have been international locations that contained COVID-19 unfold by imposing strict social distancing measures with out resorting to lockdown. “Countries that carried out rigorous hint, take a look at and isolation train have been in a position to comprise the unfold with out lockdown. But international locations that didn’t implement this technique, such because the US and the UK, needed to undergo and ultimately go for a lockdown,” mentioned Marahatta.

“Lockdown is the final resort.

Once the virus spreads, it’s already too late.”

However, in response to Marahatta, lockdown just isn’t the answer and it should be accompanied by a rigorous hint, take a look at and isolation train. Countries impose lockdown to be totally ready for testing and tracing and never permitting the virus to unfold within the meantime.

However, in Nepal, no rigorous testing and tracing adopted the lockdown. In a rustic with inhabitants of round 30 million, solely three,000 or so exams have been carried out. “This doesn’t give a transparent image to raise the lockdown with confidence,” mentioned Marahatta.

“Since the nation can’t simply go along with a protracted lockdown, it ought to now apply completely different approaches.”

Marahatta recommended that the nation could possibly be divided into clusters, reminiscent of provinces, districts or cities and permit motion throughout the clusters, barring inter-cluster motion. He mentioned the federal government should additionally implement sturdy social distancing measures.

Generally, lockdowns are tied up with the incubation interval of the illness. However, generally incubation interval goes past the usual 14 days, as much as 28 days. The final COVID-infection discovered within the nation was on April four. “This suggests the lockdown might be prolonged,” mentioned Dr Sagar Kumar Rajbhandari, director of Teku Hospital.

Rajbhandari recommended Nepal needed to take a call based mostly on India as a result of if any distinction between the 2 would end in mass motion of individuals throughout the border, that will end in elevated possibilities of the coronavirus unfold.

Moreover, there are instances of individuals testing constructive for COV- ID-19 even 5 weeks after testing destructive. Marahatta mentioned this trusted sufferers. Some asymptomatic and mild-symptomatic sufferers may additionally simply go undetected.

A model of this text seems in e-paper on April 11, 2020 of The Himalayan Times.

The submit Government ought to rethink lockdown technique, say public well being specialists appeared first on The Himalayan Times.

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