No Fresh Covid-19 Lockdowns at Local Level Unless Healthcare Facilities Overwhelmed, Says Govt Panel

No fresh lockdowns should be imposed on district or state level to contain the spread of COVID-19 unless There is an imminent danger of healthcare facilities being overwhelmed, according to a government-appointed committee chaired by IIT Hyderabad professor M Vidyasagar.

The committee has also claimed that if all protocols are followed, the pandemic can be controlled by early next year with minimal active symptomatic infections by February-end.

The 10-member panel which conducted a study on "Progression of the COVID-19 Pandemic in India: Prognosis and Lockdown Impacts" has pointed out that with no lockdown, the pandemic would have hit India very hard with a peak load of over 1.40 crore cases arriving in June.