Medical journal The Lancet, on Friday, said that the government is putting "too positive spin" on the COVID-19 situation in India, calling on the country's leaders not to give false optimism to people.
The journal, in an editorial, raised concerns about the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) "straying from scientific evidence", and cautioned against "unrealistic claims" amid the raging coronavirus crisis in the country.
The Lancet also stated that not reporting negative news about the COVID-19 pandemic situation will not only cloud the reality but will also deter people from taking the health crisis seriously and affect public health initiatives adversely.
"Perpetuating unrealistic claims or failing to honestly report negative news creates uncertainty among the public and health-care professionals, discouraging people from taking preventive action or taking public health messages seriously," it said.
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Urging the country's leaders to pay attention to what experts say the journal enunciated, "India has the expertise in medicine, public health, research, and manufacturing to lead the nation through the COVID-19 pandemic. To capitalise on these attributes, the country's leaders must respect scientific evidence, expert commentary, and academic freedom, and not provide false optimism."
Albeit the editorial lauded the Modi government's decision to impose early lockdown, the overall tone of the piece appeared to be critical, raising questions about the data quality in the country.
Citing the example of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had reportedly told the media not to broadcast negative news around coronavirus crisis in India, the medical journal stated, "According to news reports, hours before announcing the national lockdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told owners and editors from India's largest media organisations that it was important to tackle the spread of pessimism, negativity, and rumour."
The Lancet added that the country's scientific organisations also felt the pressure to encourage optimism about the coronavirus crisis. It also questioned the role of ICMR, comprising its insistence on the use of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic.
The editorial also referred to ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava's controversial push to fast-track all approvals for human trials of the indigenous vaccine candidate Covaxin in order to release it by August 15.
"This pressure to avoid negative news, and to offer reassurance, appears to have been felt by several professional scientific organisations in India. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has been singled out by experts for straying from scientific evidence, appearing at worst politically motivated and at best overly optimistic," the journal stated in its editorial.
It further read, "a letter from the Director General of the ICMR, Balram Bhargava, said that the ICMR envisaged launching a coronavirus vaccine on August 15 (Indian Independence Day; a deadline considered unrealistic by most medical experts); ICMR has supported treatment with hydroxychloroquine despite insufficient evidence; and news reports claim that data on coronavirus infection were removed from a scientific paper."
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The Lancet also challenged the government's claim of a lower COVID-19 death rate than other nations. "Transparency of the data on COVID-19 cases and deaths, especially those underpinning the case fatality rate, has also been questioned, as detailed in a recent World Report," it said adding that the Centre reported a "cases fatality rate of 1.8 per cent, much lower than the reported rate in other countries, but it is difficult to know if the numbers are comparable."
The editorial piece, however, lauded certain aspects of the government's response to coronavirus. "The country has responded well in many regards, especially for such a large and diverse nation," it said adding that "India instigated a national lockdown in March, which was praised by WHO [World Health Organisation]."
The journal added, "During the lockdown period, tertiary care provision was increased, including access to specialist equipment such as ventilators. Testing numbers also increased quickly, with India being among the first to roll out innovations like pooled testing."
"India has also been at the forefront of efforts to develop and manufacture a vaccine, both through domestic vaccine candidates and manufacturers such as the Serum Institute of India preparing production capacity for internationally developed vaccine candidates," it further read.
Meanwhile, the journal cautioned that India's crisis is far from over as its coronavirus cases are growing at the fastest rate in the world despite the country's aggressive measures taken to stem the further spread of COVID-19 in the initial days of the outbreak.
"Restrictions began to be lifted in June, and this relaxation has continued in the face of a continuing dramatic increase in case numbers nationally," The Lancet said.
"The rapidly growing case numbers, alongside the continuing relaxation of restrictions, are creating an atmosphere of fatalism mingled with false optimism that undermines effective use of non-pharmaceutical interventions such as masks and physical distancing," it warned.
"The epidemic in India is far from over, with a potentially huge burden of mortality and morbidity to come unless public health measures are used and adhered to," the journal read, stressing on the need for clear and honest communication with the people of India to tackle the situation effectively.
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