Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday politely shot down the prospect for further extension of complete lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19, resisting a step that most other states in the country, including Telangana have already taken.
“We should take bold steps, but we have to ensure the wheel of economy keeps moving if not in full speed at least to the level of sustenance of the people,” Jagan told Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a video-conference. “In my opinion, the lockdown should be enforced only in the red zones,” he said. Two days after Jagan’s “lockdown only in the red zones” decision, Andhra Pradesh reported around 27 fresh cases of corona virus in the past 24 hours. AP tally rose to 432.
Jagan and his task force were questioned on the government’s failures to produce widespread access to medical equipment (personal protective equipment, gloves, masks) to doctors, nurses and paramedical staff, test kits, ventilators to patients. Warnings delivered by the Opposition leaders like TDP president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu about the growing seriousness of the problems were not acted upon.
The Andhra Pradesh government’s press briefings of late turned into mere propaganda sessions with the ministers patting Jagan’s back for his “good work”and “good decisions”. Although the Jagan administration claimed that testing was being ramped up, and that millions of test kits were made available, in fact the testing capability was and is still severely limited. Meanwhile, the virus spread exponentially. According to Naidu, the state witnessed more than 1,000% increase in corona incidence.
The currently announced measures during the complete lockdown period were not successful enough contain the spread of the virus. The spread of the disease will likely accelerate in the absence of strong coordinated action like a national lockdown to interrupt transmission of the virus. Fortunately, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam remain corona-free districts in Andhra Pradesh. There is no evidence that the state government’s strategy of sealing inter-state borders, shutting businesses, banning nonessential travel and social distancing norm lead to sufficient change in halting transmission of the virus. Even with the complete lockdown in the state, popular compliance is proving a challenge.
The experience of the US and Italy suggests that partial lockdowns within a country are not effective to interrupt transmission within a country. Closer home, many states are acting to contain viral spread through mass closures of businesses and orders to stay inside the home. However, in the absence of a national-level lockdown, such measures would be of little help, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said in the video-conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Kejriwal was of the view that the ongoing 21-day lockdown, which is scheduled to end on April 14, should be extended to the whole of India and not only in Delhi. “Extending the lockdown in Delhi alone will not serve any purpose,” he told the PM in the video conference interaction. Telangana Chief Minsiter K Chandrasekahra Rao, his Delhi, Punjab counterparts Arivnd Kejriwal and Amarinder Singh and
several other states extended the lockdown till April 30.
Definitely, Jagan’s suggestion that the economic and consequent social costs of a lockdown must be weighed against its benefits is valid. However, at this stage, the only effective national strategy to interrupt transmission and prevent a rapid spread of the disease across the entire country is a national lockdown, led and coordinated by the Union government. If the Jagan government fails to grasp the gravity of the situation or is unwilling to bite that bullet, political pressure for a national lockdown will occur inexorably as the virus continues to spread.
