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Close on the heels of the ministry of Home Affairs announcing Unlock 4, which allows more commercial establishments to reopen, several state governments issued orders about relaxation of restriction despite Covid-19 cases continuing to rise in the country. The government of Nagaland too announced lifting of restriction on intra-state and inter-state movement and reopening of popular markets and business sectors that have been shut since the lockdown began in March. While schools, colleges, educational and coaching institutions will remain closed till September 30, the revised order has allowed the reopening of shopping malls, restaurants, barber shops, hotels, gymnasiums, yoga institutes, salons and beauty parlours outside the containment zones. However, life won’t be the same anymore as both employees and customers have to strictly adhere to several preventive measures like maintaining social distancing and hand hygiene. Consumers’ shopping experience will take a beating but taking precautionary measures is all the more important now than then as several restrictions that were in place until recently have been relaxed.
Gradual unlocking of lockdown could be seen as a risky move as far as containing the spread of Covid-19 is concerned because relaxation of economic activities and reopening of crowded marketplaces could lead to sudden spike in positive cases. Countries, including Japan, Vietnam and Australia that successfully contained the disease in the initial wave are now facing spike in Covid-19 cases, and experts say that it is mainly because of prioritising business activities without proper strategy in place. New Zealand is one of the countries that have successfully controlled the spread of the disease, not witnessing community transmission for more than three months now. Still then, no country can afford to let the guard down as this highly infectious disease can change everything in a short span of time.
In the meantime, it is important to revive the economy and reduce the untold problems faced by the marginalised sections of society like daily wage earners. It is impossible to remain in lockdown for months together as it can cause irreparable damage to the economy and India is one of the countries that has paid a huge price for imposing this cruel measure. However, it is also inevitable especially for countries that don’t boast of good healthcare system as lockdown helped in buying time to improve healthcare facilities as well as avoid overwhelming spike in Covid-19 cases. But now that the public has been made well aware of the disease, nature of transmission and possible ways to contain its spread through massive campaigns over the last five months, commercial activities have to resume and people should learn to live with the virus. The way forward is to strike a balance between work and life till the time a vaccine for the disease is developed. People should work but continue to avoid non-essential movement and strictly follow the standard operating procedures laid down by the government. Basic precautionary measures like wearing face mask, maintaining physical distance, frequent hand-washing etc. will remain the most effective weapons to combat this invisible virus.