Keep On Restriction

As the rate of coronavirus infection and death is yet to ebb, the government needs to extend the restrictive and prohibitory orders. Many across the nation have appealed to the authority for a complete resumption of socio-economic activities. However, given the existing level of infection prevalence and the COVID-19 related deaths, it would be unwise for the government to reopen activities for it would only help soar infection and death ratio in the communities. At present, the coronavirus infection situation is worrisome. More annoying is the news of the virus-related deaths. The total deaths since the detection of the first virus case in the country have exceeded 1,500, while the total infections have gone beyond over 230,000. A good number of infected people, about 215,000, have recovered, while active virus infection has gone beyond 16,000.
Keeping this in mind, the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) the other day said that the authority should extend the prevailing restrictions and prohibitory orders at least by another 15 days until it makes another arrangement. Even after lifting lockdown from across the nation, the government has not yet reopened different activities, services and businesses out of fear that they would give rise to virus infections. While appealing to the people to observe all restriction rules fully and to heed safety protocols, the ministry proposed that the government-implemented restrictive orders should be carried out stringently, at least for the next two weeks.
Until the government revises its opinions, places such as cinema halls, restaurants and bars, disco and party centres, entertainment businesses, seminars, marriage ceremonies and programmes where large gatherings of the people may cause high ratio of infections, must not resume operation. Regarding the reopening of the schools, the ministry has advised the authority to reopen them only after mid-December considering the number of students studying in a school. If the student number is high, then the reopening will present a peril of infections. The authority may permit schools having fewer students by rigorously adhering to all safety protocols.
With the rising fear that the coronavirus has already penetrated our communities, the authority of late started conducting antigen tests at community levels having a high number of infections. The results found a high number of people having antibodies, showing the virus had already infected them and they had transmitted the virus to others. In the meantime, people having virus symptoms are reluctant to undergo PCR tests fearing that if they test positive, then they need to stay in isolation or in hospitals. Also, the number of people opting for virus test has gone down after government hospitals charged fees from asymptomatic people. Given all the above situations, it is necessary for the government to put in place the prohibitory order before the situation improves. Without a thorough scrutiny of the prevailing situation, it would be a suicidal step to reopen all places, businesses and activities, where people will gather in a large number. Our authority can take cues from the other nations where citizens had disregarded the safety protocols and gathered in large numbers, allowing virus to spread rapidly and cause more deaths. Our authority, therefore, must not rush to lift restrictive orders.