Fauci suggests complete lockdown in India for few weeks
New Delhi : Joe Biden’s medical advisor Anthony Fauci on Saturday suggested that India must go for a complete lockdown for few weeks to come out from ongoing coronavirus crisis.
Dr Fauci, in an interview to The Indian Express, also mentioned that another priority for the government should be on getting enough oxygen, medication, PPEs.
Without naming anyone, he mentioned that the leaders in India claimed victory over coronavirus may be "prematurely".
"Well, one of the things you really need to do, to the extent that you can, is shut down temporarily the country, I think is important. If we want to time out and go back to what I said: there is the immediate, the intermediate, and the long range (measures to contain the virus)."
"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 Dr Fauci, who is the Chief Medical Adviser to the Biden administration.
He also mentioned that last year when coronavirus had exploded in China; they had also opted for a complete lockdown to stop spread of the virus. He said, it does not mean to follow them and shut everything for six months, but it can be done for few weeks to stop transmission.
"Literally, lock down so that you wind up having less spread. No one likes to lock down the country. Well, that's a problem when you do it for six months," he said.
"But just for a few weeks of lockdown could have a significant impact on the dynamics of the outbreak," he added.
