Regroup and rearm

Monday 23rd August, 2021

The costly lockdown is now on, and chances are that it will have to be extended, given the rapid spread of the pandemic and the increasing death rate. While loose-tongued politicians, cantankerous trade unionists and social media doomsday prophets are talking the hind legs off a donkey about the health crisis, without making any contribution to the country’s battle against the virus, there have been some good advice and a dire warning from a public health official and a minister respectively, and they ought to be heeded.

Head of the Public Health Officers’ Association Upul Rohana has called upon everyone to act responsibly so that the current lockdown will yield the desired results—curbing the spread of the pandemic, easing strain on the healthcare system, and bringing down the death rate. He has said the lockdown should not be ‘wasted’ unlike on previous occasions. State Minister of Finance, Capital Markets and State Enterprise Reforms Minister Ajith Nivard Cabraal has warned of the economic consequences of the lockdown, and stressed the need to make the best use of it to fight the virus, without squandering the opportunity so that the country could be reopened fast and the ailing economy resuscitated.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s recent exhortation to the public to be prepared to make more sacrifices is being given different interpretations. It is being claimed in some quarters that he has hinted at the possibility of public sector pay cuts. Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena has sought to allay the state employee’s fear that salary reductions are on the cards. He has said the government has not made any such decision. He may be telling the truth, but such drastic action will become inevitable unless a concerted effort is made to rid the country of the pandemic, or at least bring it under control. If the state revenue continues to decrease at the present rate, there will be no funds left for salaries or even life-saving medicines. The people must be told this bitter truth so that they will realise the need to cooperate fully with the health authorities, the armed forces and the police to beat the runaway virus.

A lockdown serves no purposes unless it is coupled with a strictly-enforced quarantine curfew, aggressive testing, isolation of the infected and an accelerated vaccination drive. Government Medical Laboratory Technologists insist that as many as 100,000 tests could be done a day easily if the Health Ministry optimises the use of all PCR and Rapid PCR machines in the state sector with more Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) being conducted. The RAT kits, each costing only 200 Indian rupees, must be made freely available, here, at a reasonable price, for self-testing, which will help detect more infections daily. This method is currently being used in countries like Australia, Singapore, the US, the UK, India, etc. Why the government has not taken steps to make these test kits available here is the question. The only explanation may be that it has allowed its cronies to have a monopoly over testing and make a killing.

Meanwhile, those who order goods online, during lockdowns, buy a pig in a poke, and complaints abound that even the so-called reputed supermarket chains make the most of the situation and deliver rotten vegetables and fruits. There should be a special desk at the Consumer Affairs Authority to receive complaints, which must be promptly acted on. All those engaged in delivering goods and food must be tested regularly lest they should carry the germ the way bees spread pollen. The government has decided to ensure that all vendors are fully vaccinated. This alone is not enough, for even the vaccinated people can be carriers. Testing is the way out.

A lockdown is a retreat in the war against the virus. It is time for regrouping and rearming, If all Sri Lankans act intelligently with the single-minded pursuit of victory against the virus, there will be no need for anymore lockdowns. Otherwise, they will have other serious problems to contend with such as keeping the wolf from the door.