Shut down India for a few weeks, says Dr Fauci, US's Chief Medical Adviser

In an exclusive interview with the Indian Express, Dr Anthony Fauci, America's top epidemiologist spoke about ways in which India can handle the COVID crisis. The second wave of COVID-19 has wreaked havoc in the country in the past few days as infection rates are spiralling and patients scramble for health facilities . There have been cases where people have died due to lack of oxygen and hospital beds.

Here are some steps Dr Fauci has suggested for India in order to contain the crisis.

Complete lockdown for a few weeks

Top US epidemiologist Anthony Fauci suggested a lockdown for a few weeks in India as an immediate step to contain the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) as its deadly second wave shows no signs of ebbing. He has advised India to first look at the immediate solution. Getting supplies of oxygen, medication, PPEs was also another immediate step, he added

"I think the most important thing in the immediate is to get oxygen, get supplies, get medication, get PPE, those kinds of things but also, one of the immediate things to do is to essentially call a shutdown of the country," said Fauci.

World must come to India's help

Many countries have now moved to make a major commitment for medication, oxygen,  PPE, and  ventilators, said Fauci. But we've got to get other countries to come in and help India right now because India has been very generous in the past crises in helping other countries. Now was the time for other countries to try to alleviate the immediate problem that India has, Fauci added.

Intermediate measures for this war-like situation

Get hospitals built quickly, said Fauci. That's something India must give attention to, in order to clamp down on the crisis. He cited the example of China, saying,  "I mean really quickly, within a matter of - you know, they put up these field hospitals that they built during war. You should think of this, in some respects, like a war. The enemy is the virus. So you know where the enemy is, so I would make it almost like wartime because it's an emergency."

Mobilise groups of govt

Dr Fauci said looking at the magnitude of the crisis, India should look at putting together a crisis group that would meet and start getting things organised. Without naming any government, he said one of the things that should have been recognised is that "victory was declared maybe too prematurely".

"For example, what is the role of the military? Can the military come in and help? I mean, you can immediately get military help the way we, in the United States, have used our National Guard to help us distribute the vaccinations."

Contractual arrangements with companies who have vaccines

"You've got to get supplies. You've got to make contractual arrangements with the various companies that are out there in the world. There are many companies that now have vaccines. I think you have to negotiate with them to try and get a commitment," he said. "And also, India is the largest vaccine-producing country in the world. That's the thing you should rev up your own capabilities to make vaccines," he added.

Ramp up vaccination

Underlining that vaccination plays a crucial role in handling the coronavirus situation, Fauci said if India, a country of 1.4 billion people, has fully vaccinated only two per cent of its total population, then it has a very long way to go.

"Hang together, it will end"

On being asked whether he has some words for those suffering in the country, he said, "I'll say, hang together. Everybody is in this together".

"The entire world is pulling for and in solidarity with India, for sure. We are very pained to see India suffering so much. And that's the reason why the rest of the world really needs to chip in and help. But to the people of India, I'll say, hang together. Everybody is in this together. And just as I said in the Senate hearing, it will end. We will get to a normal. There is suffering now but I guarantee that we will get it back to normal. Hang in there, help each other. Take care of each other and things will get back to normal."



As told to the Indian Express