It's true that none of us were prepared to deal with the onslaught of Corona. But after an initial setback, all the countries geared up to cope with this crisis. Some countries were extremely successful.
What was done by the other countries and states that made a headway in the race of Fight against Corona and some are still struggling at the starting point?
What can be done to clear up the Corona awry, here in Andaman?
Read it !!
"PRECAUTION IS BETTER THAN CORONA"
Corona had swept over Wuhan back in December last year and ever since then, Taiwan began onboard Quarantining of the Direct Flights from Wuhan. The made a response team which coordinated with all the Govt Ministries. Massive numbers of Tests was conducted, mask exports were banned, Mask production was ramped up and Social Distancing rules were enforced. Corona had already ravaged several other states and Nations before its outbreak in Andaman. Andaman had a long list of DOs and DON'Ts and all they had to do was follow it.
So why did Andaman's Lockdown fail?
It is believe that after imposing a Lockdown, Health infrastructure should have been improved in the war footing, which we did not do. That could have made our fight much easier. A better timed Lockdown could have saved our life from the risk of Covid and our economy could have been salvaged as well (like, Tourism, Fisheries, Coconut-Arecanut Exports etc).
For Eg-, in Kerala, not all the Industries were shut down during the Lockdown. Those factories where Social Distancing was possible were allowed to run. In short, the Problem had to be solved After imposing the Lockdown, Lockdown was not the solutions of the Problems. And now even the Covid Task Force of the PM admits that India's Lockdown was a failure.
Instead of flattening, the curve of the infected cases in Andaman is growing exponentially. In such a situation, it becomes mandatory to examine the steps taken by the successful states, Cointries,Islands etc, that we failed to adopt.
Islanders did raise these questions about planning, crisis management and the steps taken? But the Administration did not Answer!
As far as testing goes, some countries carried out aggressively and the results quicker. Instead of increasing mass testing, it was reduced in Andaman.
Someone is tweeting with pride in TestsPerMillion but the reality is, this is the Highest Active Cases per Million after testing. It is claim that community transmission has started in our Island, contacts of positives are not being properly identified.
Things are getting serious now. More than 300 covid positive cases are asymptomatic they are under Home Isolation. 1000+ peoples are under suspects Home Quarantine. Administration aren't providing any MediKits like other states do. They only puts Pamphlet on the front. There were more than five death cases, who were either under Home Quarantine or Home Isolation, who were rushed to GB Pant Hospital after showing illness, where they breathed their last and some in a way to Hospital.
The First Death of the COVID in Andaman has no COVID test conducted, the family has been asked to claim the body from the Mortuary. If the patients taken to Hospital are treated this way, the virus is going to spread. Asymptomatic patients with illness needs to be treated in Hospitals instead of Home Quarantine. Unavailability of proper medical care in the last minute would also lead to fatalities.
The situation in Andaman is, a COVID ICUs is running with 7 Ventilators and the populations is around 3 Lakhs.
In mainland, the Symptomatic Patients was treated in Wards with Central Oxygen. If the Patient is not maintaining SPO2 then they use BIPAP. Then they were shifted to ICUs and connect HFNC. If it also fails then they were put into Ventilators with NIV Mode and finally intubate. Also, for the protection of Health Workers, they providing PPE to Doctors, Staffs with N95 masks, eye gears, face-shield and gloves. Is it done in this way in GB Pant, Dhanvantari, etc?
Administration should accept that Testing is not done in its way ...
If so many positive cases are being found despite such low testing figures then what would happen if testing was made open to all and everyone was allowed to get tested?
Is this what is scaring the Administration and causing it to resist mass testing?
Because, when the correct figures would be revealed, then it would lead to embarrassment.
The Success Mantra was simple - Lockdown, Mass Testing, Contact Tracing, Capacity Building, but we failed to do so. The previous Lockdown gave rise to another crisis to our Daily Wages Workers and Labours. Some of the Hoseholders suffered Hunger for a days.
Among this entire crisis, the Administration didn't lose its focus. There was a FIRs on the Journalists, peoples who are questioning in Social Medias.
We would learn from a few states that on Contract Tracing, Bengaluru, whenever a positive case was reported, all the contacts of the Patient were identified immediately. We've seen where we went wrong, but that does not mean that we cannot rectify our mistakes.
Yet, there is one thing that Administration and Health Departments failed to understand that is extremely essential for us to conduct Tests only then can the spread of Corona be stopped. Now, the ICMR has directed all the states to focus on Antibody Testing along with Swab Testing. Antibody Testing is cheaper and simpler than the Swab Testing. Now this helps in Tracing possible patients and it can also indicate how widespread Corona is in a place and if there is a need for imposing Lockdown again, then the Experts believe that targeted Lockdown should be focussed upon the island, should not be shut down completely like Lockdown 1. Administration also should take the Six Steps .
1. Isolate the Places
2. Map Hotspots
3. Door-to-Door Scanning
4. Aggressive Contact Tracing
5. Ramp Quarantine and Isolation Wards
6. Paying special attention to incoming Flight, Ship Passengers and Rural Areas.
These 6 steps sound quite easy but the big cities across the country were unsuccessful in taking these small steps. The result of which is evident now the Tremendous Spike in the cases of Corona.
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