Coronavirus spread: World bodies hail Modi government measures to take care of communities directly affected by the lockdown

Coronavirus is spreading rapidly and world bodies are looking up to India for the timely measures taken to contain the spread of the virus. It is at this time that the World Health Organization (WHO) is praising the measures taken by the country to take care of communities that are directly affected by the ongoing lockdown imposed to fight the coronavirus.

Responding to a question from a leading television channel, the WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said India’s action was “very, very important”, pointing to the economic consequences of a shutdown and the high risk faced by workers living on daily subsistence.

That’s why India is taking measures like the Rs 1.7 lakh crore stimulus plan announced last week, he said.

“That’s the kind of support we say should be given,” he said, underscoring the need to assess how public health measures will affect communities.

Ghebreyesus also noted that many developing nations can’t support affected communities during lockdowns, and urged others to help them using debt relief.

INDIA’S PROGRESS

WHO executive director, Mike Ryan said that it is too early to evaluate the impact of India’s lockdown on the coronavirus outbreak. He detailed that, “Lockdowns and shutdowns should just be part of an overall comprehensive strategy.”

Steady and reliable policies need to be implemented at this point of time so that one can measure the progress decide how to move on, he said. “We need to be very careful not to knee jerk…not to be changing policies every single day”.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on Covid-19 (the name of the new coronavirus disease), said the UN body was using specific criteria to track progress made by nations — these include testing strategies, movement restrictions, the percentage of positive cases and surveillance strategies.

ONE MILLION CASES

The WHO also mentioned that there had been a “near exponential growth in the number of new cases, reaching almost every country, territory and area”.

“The number of deaths has more than doubled in the past week. In the next few days we will reach 1 million confirmed cases, and 50 thousand deaths,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO chief.

UN chief Antonio Guterres described the coronavirus pandemic this week as the biggest global challenge since the Second World War, and warned of a recession “that probably has no parallel in the recent past.”