Dr Srinivas Kakkilaya calls earlier nationwide lockdown a ‘shutdown’, says it did not control Covid but only hit economy
BENGALURU:
Both elected representatives and experts are divided on the usefulness of the week-long lockdown in Bengaluru Urban and Rural starting from 8 pm on Tuesday.
The standard argument in favour of the lockdown has been that it would cut the chain of Covid transmission in a badly-hit Bengaluru. But till the very last moment, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa himself went to great lengths to insist that there would be no further lockdown and that the state’s economy needed to get back on track. To bolster its changed stand, the government has attributed its lockdown decision to ‘expert opinion’.
Among the opposition, the government’s decision to put the clamps on Bengaluru Urban and Rural has been supported by JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy. The former CM has tweeted that if a lockdown is re-imposed in other Covid-hit districts, it would be in the interests of public health. He has also demanded a ban on inter-district travel within the state.
But at least one expert has gone on record to rule out any perceived benefit from a renewed lockdown. Notes medical expert Dr Srinivas Kakkilaya of Mangaluru, “There is no benefit from such a move. In just a week, the coronavirus infections cannot be reduced — it did not happen even after the 54-day nationwide lockdown. What the state government or the Prime Minister have resorted to is not a lockdown, but a shutdown. Both of these are different.”
He notes, “China took certain steps in the name of a lockdown but it was more of a shutdown here. Even as the infection has not been controlled, problems related to the economy have increased as a result of the shutdown.”
Dr Srinivas Kakkilaya asks, “Who are your experts, what are the scientific grounds for the decision, and what are the pros and cons of the 54-day lockdown that was done in the past? It is your (government’s) responsibility to tell the people of the state immediately.”
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