Immediate lockdown necessary to curb Covid spread in India, says Anthony Fauci

Anthony Fauci, during the initial days of the coronavirus outbreak, had called the pandemic, ''a perfect storm with no end in near sight.''

As India is battling the deadly second wave of coronavirus, Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to the Biden Administration has suggested that the country should immediately lockdown to curb the spread of the pandemic. Fauci made these remarks while talking exclusively to The Indian Express.

India should shut down immediately

According to Fauci, shutting down the country temporarily could open a window, and during these times, authorities can take immediate steps to address issues like lack of oxygen supply, availability of PPE Kits, etc.

"Well, one of the things you really need to do that to the extent that you can — is shut down temporarily the country, I think is important. If we want to time out and go back to what I said. There is the immediate, the intermediate, and the long-range. I think the most important thing in the immediate is to get oxygen, get supplies, get medication, get PPE, those kinds of things but also, one of the immediate things to do is to essentially call a shutdown of the country," Fauci told The Indian Express.

Fauci also cited the example of China that successfully defeated the coronavirus scare by completely locking down the country. According to Fauci, the primary purpose of shutting down should be aimed at putting an end to the cycle of transmission.

"No one likes to lock down the country. Well, that's a problem when you do it for six months. But if you do it just for a few weeks, you could have a significant impact on the dynamics of the outbreak," added Fauci.

Fauci says the world will get back to normal

It was during the initial days of the coronavirus outbreak that Fauci called the pandemic, ''a perfect storm with no end in near sight.'' However, in his recent talk, Fauci revealed that the world will get back to normal. He also urged Indians to hang together and made it clear that the entire world is pulling for and in solidarity with India.

India, on April 30 witnessed more than 4,00,000 fresh positive cases and 3,253 Covid-related deaths. Medical experts in India believe that the presence of double and triple mutant variants is the reason behind the sudden surge in Covid positive cases.