IMA calls for curfew on counting day

It blames protocol violation during poll campaigning for spike in State

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has called for stringent measures such as micro containment and curfew for the next two weeks, which it says is a crucial period, when COVID-19 disease transmission will intensify.

It was total laxity on the part of everyone in observing COVID-19 protocols during the poll campaigning in March, which has primarily resulted in the large-scale spread of the disease.

In the light of this, the government has to strictly ensure that no celebrations or victory parades are conducted on the counting day on May 2, IMA leaders said at a press conference here on Thursday.

They demanded that a curfew-like condition should be imposed ahead of the counting day. It reminded the public that the situation was quite grave and that already the occupancy of hospital beds and ICUs were rising in an alarming way. The State can in no way afford to have a situation wherein people would gather, leading to further disease transmission, it pointed out.

The IMA appealed to the people to avoid all kind of festival gatherings such as Poorams or Iftar parties, which could lead to increased disease transmission.

The IMA also appealed to the government to streamline vaccine supply and vaccination processes so that people do not crowd at vaccination centres. It would be dangerous if such places become disease dissemination centres, it said.

It demanded that COVID testing be increased to conduct one lakh tests daily so that more infectious people could be isolated.

The IMA pointed out that it was the emergence of mutant variants of SARS-CoV-2 which has intensified disease transmission and that the State needed to conduct more scientific studies to generate molecular evidence in support of this theory. It was important from the clinical point of view to understand what doctors were dealing with.

Despite persistent demands by the IMA for clinical data sharing during the first wave, the government had not responded adequately. It was disappointing that the State had not done any kind of clinical or academic research on COVID in the State, State secretary of IMA P. Gopikumar and vice president N. Sulphi said.

Source: Read Full Article