JOIN USThe seven-day lockdown in Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts announced by the government will serve little purpose and is only an attempt to divert attention from its failure to put systems and capacities in place to combat the spread of coronavirus that was inevitable with the lifting of the earlier long lockdown. The administration failed to prepare the city’s health infrastructure to take the rising load of Covid-19 cases. It should have utilised the earlier lockdown period to do so. Now that the cases are spiralling out of control, it is running hither and thither, taking ad-hoc and ill-advised actions to save its face, despite the detrimental consequences such decisions will have. According to the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), at least 20% of businesses have already shutdown permanently and this lockdown will further impact the economy which had slowly begun sprouting shoots of revival.
The need for a lockdown once again would not have arisen had the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) discharged its responsibility diligently. Though its Covid-19 strategy and action should have been fine-tuned by now, there is still undue delay in releasing test results, shifting Covid-positive patients to the hospital and quarantining primary contacts of the infected. Contact tracing, which is vital to preventing the spread of the virus, has been given a silent burial. The number of tests being conducted among vulnerable groups also leaves much to be desired. While there is an acute scarcity of ICU beds, an effective mechanism has not been put in place to regulate private hospitals which are fleecing patients by charging them exorbitantly. Unless these loose ends are first tied, cases will continue to increase and lockdowns every now and then will not help.
A bigger danger of this lockdown is the large exodus of people from Bengaluru back to their hometowns, increasing the threat of the virus being carried to hitherto untouched rural areas. Most decisions pertaining to Covid-19 have lacked foresight, often forcing a U-turn, and this time, too, the government is believed to be swayed by pressure from certain regional TV channels, rather than acting on objective evidence. Kneejerk reactions like lockdowns, far from salvaging the situation, will only aggravate the suffering of the poor and the homeless. It is about four months now since the first Covid-19 case was recorded in the state, but the government is yet to release a comprehensive strategy document detailing the way forward, whether with regard to containing the virus or reviving the economy. Without a proper roadmap, the state risks losing its initial gains and heading towards a catastrophe.