Letter to BS: Lockdown should be lifted carefully and meticulously

The lifting of the countrywide lockdown, as hinted by the Prime Minister, has to be planned carefully and executed meticulously. Any wrong step will totally wipe out all the reliefs being provided. Any wrong move by the government, there will be chaos and people will have to bear heavy losses. In the first phase, the government should not allow opening of any entertainment avenues like cinema halls and malls, hotels, religious places and the like. The idea should be not to allow large gathering as far as possible. Since transport plays a crucial role in any economy, the Centre should first focus on this as to whether buses, metro trains or railway services could be resumed in the country.

In the next phase, all educational institutions, hotels etc should be allow­ed to function after random checking of blood samples locality-wise by the government or private hospitals. A minimum time gap of say five or six days between every phase of lifting the lockdown should be taken after feedback from ho­spitals\surveyors. It is only after confi­rming the non-prevalence of the vi­rus or reduced prevalence amongst the affected persons, should the government lift the lockdown totally. La­st but not the least, the government should not restrict information flow by press or electronic media.

Katuru Durga Prasad Rao      Hyderabad

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