Lockdowns won’t have much impact: Harsh Vardhan

As India witnesses a second wave of Covid-19 cases, health minister Harsh Vardhan gave a thumbs down to partial lockdown and night curfews being implemented by some state governments and indicated that a pan-India lockdown similar to the one imposed at the beginning of the pandemic would not be resorted to.

Fielding questions on Covid-19 and the on-going public immunisation drive at Times Network India Economic Conclave on Friday, Harsh Vardhan said, “Physical distancing is an established non pharmaceutical intervention to suppress and contain the spread of Covid virus. A modality for ensuring such physical measures have to be evidence based. In this context partial lockdowns such as night curfews or weekend lockdowns would not have much impact on the transmission cycle.”