A complete lockdown in India will have terrible consequences, says WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan

She said complete lockdowns will do more damage until most people are vaccinated

Speculations of a lockdown are rife in the country as the Covid-19 infections in India touched a record high of 1,28,01,785 cases on Wednesday. Partial lockdowns and night curfews are already in place in Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and other cities which are reporting a spike in infections.

However, the chief scientist of the World Health Organisation, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, has advised against a complete lockdown in India.

As per a report by The Indian Express, Dr. Swaminathan said that citizens should try to manage the pandemic's second wave in the country without a lockdown as it can have a terrible consequence.

Read more: India sees highest-ever single-day spike of 1.15 lakh Covid-19 cases

“The consequences are terrible", she said referring to a potential lockdown.

“We have to manage the second wave before thinking of a third wave and till enough people are vaccinated, there definitely can be more waves in the pandemic", she was quoted saying by The Indian Express.

Since the WHO recommends a gap of 8-12 weeks between two jabs of the Covishield vaccine, more people stand a chance to get inoculated in the meantime.

“Vaccination is not recommended yet for children but yes, the gap between two doses can be stretched to eight to 12 weeks", she said.

The WHO chief scientist thinks that complete lockdowns will do more damage until most people are vaccinated.

Experts in Pune have also chimed in agreement.

In conversation with The Indian Express, Prof L S Shashidhara, a professor at IISER, Pune and Ashoka University, said, "Last year, even during the lockdown, Pune had many hotspots. As soon as the lockdown was lifted, albeit partially, the numbers started going up. Then there was a 10-day lockdown which did not help. Numbers went up even further. With community transmission rampant, during the lockdown, the virus would still be spreading within smaller groups in a locality and as soon as the lockdown is lifted, it will spread even more rapidly as people tend to relax more after the stress of the lockdown".

Read more: Variants may be driving India's Covid-19 surge; can't know without tests

The occasion of World Health Day on April 7 this year naturally focused around pandemic-centric discussions. While speaking on the occasion, the regional director of WHO Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh emphasized on accelerated vaccine rollouts to counter the new wave of Covid-19 cases in Pune.

Currently, India stands second when it comes to the number of vaccine jabs administered daily - 26 lakh doses. In the first place is the US with above 30 lakh jabs per day. The US also became the first country to administer 150 million vaccine jabs and fully vaccinate 62 million people.

With Covid-19 varients surfacing, infections are increasing and so is mass panic, says Dr Dhananjay Kelkar, medical director of Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital.

“Needless to say, the government has to take some steps to restrict Covid-19 spread as the pressure is on private hospitals. The good things now are that many small hospitals are becoming Covid centres. Last year, there was a huge scare and several facilities had displayed boards stating they were not Covid-19 hospitals… but this time, more than 25 small hospitals have come forward and we can expect more beds opening up in Pune for treating Covid-19 patients. Currently, there are 4,000 beds in Pune city and all hospitals have been increasing the bed strength daily", he was quoted telling The Indian Express.