Coronavirus is not here on a tourist visa: Anand Mahindra

Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra on Monday said that the government should focus on lifting the lockdown restrictions gradually as the novel coronavirus is here to stay.

He expressed his views on the current situation of Covid-19 in the country stating that the case numbers are surging despite the attempts to flatted the curve owing to higher testing.

‘Lockdown helped’

“The number of new cases has risen, despite flattening the previous few days. With higher testing, a continuing rise is inevitable given the low absolute number of cases relative to our population & the rest of the world. We shouldn’t expect a swift flattening of the curve,” Mahindra tweeted.

“This doesn’t mean the lockdown hasn’t helped. India’s avoided lakhs of potential deaths in its collective fight. India’s death rate per million is currently 1.4 compared to the global average at 35 & the US at 228. We’ve also bought time to enhance medical infrastructure,” he further added.

Mahindra further expressed his concern on the extension of lockdown impacting the overall economic condition of the country. “But if the lockdown is extended for much longer, we will be risking economic hara-kiri . A functioning & growing economy is like an immune system for livelihoods. A lockdown weakens that immune system and most hurts the impoverished in our society,” he said.

The government has been mulling the road ahead in terms of relaxation of restrictions. The lockdown that has further been extended till May 17 has brought about fewer restrictions in districts marked as “Orange” and “Green” zones.

Mahindra’s suggestions

According to Mahindra, the government should focus on specific wards rather than zones while allowing for widespread testing and contact tracing.

“Our goal should be to continue preventing avoidable deaths. We need to 1) Rapidly build field hospitals equipped with oxygen lines (ventilators aren’t critical now) 2) Deploy widespread testing and tracing. 3)Focus on containment not through zones but at sub pin code levels and finally 4) Protect the elderly & the medically vulnerable. To quote a colleague: “We have to live with the virus. It’s not here on a tourist visa with an expiry date,” he said in a series of tweets.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday held a virtual conference with State chief ministers to discuss the road ahead and the relaxation of restrictions imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19, while gradually restarting economic activity according to previous reports.

“Slowly but surely, economic activities have begun to pick up in several parts of the country. In the coming days, the process will further gather steam,” PM Modi said.

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