Letter to BS: Strike a balance between public health, economic implications

This refers to “Need to open industry across zones: CII to govt’ (April 22). The decision to allow industry to function in the red zones is not an easy one. Relaxing lockdown restrictions in the red zone will result in a huge spike in Covid-19 cases which the health infrastructure will not be able to handle. Moreover, we have no real idea about the number of people actually infected and the rate of transmission considering the low level of testing. Workers will live in congested living spaces which aggravate the spread of infections. The government has to strike a balance between the public health and economic implications of the lockdown. It has done well to allow business and industry to start in the green and orange zones besides the commencement of agricultural harvesting operations. The decision to ease the restrictions has to be a very well thought-out decision and has to be done in a phased manner. We cannot allow a galloping resurgence of people getting infected as a result of premature lifting of lockdown restrictions.

Arun Pasricha  New Delhi

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