Coronavirus in India: Why 21-day nation-wide lockdown can help break the virus chain

On Wednesday, a Muzaffarpur-based doctor, Arun Shah, told India Today TV that the move is the only way to slowdown or possibly stop the exponential spread of Covid-19 infection among people.

"The incubation period of the novel coronavirus lasts up to 5 to 14 days. This is also the potential transmission period. The idea behind this forced social isolation is to halt the spread of the microbe," Arun Shah added.

"All viruses can sustain or exist only by replicating. A virus cannot reproduce outside a cell, as it is completely dependent on a host cell to survive. This can be achieved by social distancing," Arun Shah said.

"It is imperative to slow down and break the virus chain. We know that the first one lakh people [globally] were infected by Covid-19 in over 67 days. The next one lakh were infected in more than 11 days while the next one lakh added on to the lot in just four days. That is why, the social distancing is a must," Arun Shah said.

Arun Shah further said: "As we don't have a vaccine and it is unlikely to have one in the next 12 months, the government apparently is working on a plan to make most of the virus to burn itself out. While it will be too optimistic to expect a complete burnout of the virus, the lock down coupled with social distancing measures is expected to lower the numbers of the infected persons."

#corona #covid19 #coronalockdown