Srinagar: With Kashmir valley witnessing surge in number of COVID-19 cases, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Sunday said reopening of economic activities in presence of high degree of virus transmission would be risky.
“Reopening of activities while COVID-19 is still circulating widely will accelerate virus transmission in the community which would be disastrous,” DAK President Dr Nisar ul Hassan said.
“If we reopen now we will be back into a situation where our only response would be another lockdown,” he said.
Dr Hassan said the purpose of lockdown was to keep people away from coming into contact with each other, therefore curbing the spread of the virus. “With cases rising thick and fast, reopening would further deteriorate the situation, the effect of which could be worse than what has happened,” he said.
The DAK president said the vast majority of people are uninfected making them like dry kindling or a forest floor. “Sudden relaxation of restrictions will supply new targets for the novel Coronavirus,” he said adding “the virus will keep burning until it runs out of fuel,” he said.
He said we understand the anxiety that our people are facing and are acutely aware of the economic and social impact of prolonged closure of various sectors. “All of us want to get back to normal as soon as possible and to be able to see our friends and families. But, we are not in a situation to open it up because opening prematurely will result in more cases and we will have to shut down again,” he said.
Dr Hassan said next few weeks are crucial, adding returning to a situation where ‘we will have no control is far worse than a week or two of social measures’.
He said as per reopening criteria there should be minimum 14 days of declining cases before even considering reopening. “And it would be like driving blind if we reopen activities without setting up strong track and trace system to beat back flare ups of the novel Coronavirus,” he added.
