As people struggle amidst the 3rd wave of the COVID-19 pandemic with over 2400 positive cases reported in J&K just a day ago, the Government has again come up with a new measure—after the night curfew—and that being the imposition of weekend lockdown in J&K where the state of the economy is already in tatters.
One fails to understand the rationale behind the move. Such curbs are usually imposed in the cosmopolitan cities where there are parties, events planned for the weekend; people go for 2-day vacations to enjoy their weekend.
But here in Jammu as well as in Kashmir, we do not have such a lifestyle prevalent even as one might ask: what about the rest of the days of the week? Isn’t COVID spreading on those days? Has the COVID signed a pact that there will be a spread only on weekends?
There is a need for taking rational steps to contain the spread of the infection. There is a need for creating more awareness on the steps that are needed to be taken for arresting the spread of the COVID-19; enforce the adherence to the COVID Appropriate Behaviour, rather than taking coercive and stringent measures such as the imposition of lockdown.
The experts as well as the administration have been long stating that the people need to learn how to live with the COVID-19—which they said is never going to go away and will become endemic. Their assumption might be true, but those are not reflected in the decisions that the Government is taking concerning the COVID containment measures. There is a need for hopping on to a new track to deal with challenges thrown at us by the COVID in a more creative way.