Q/What is the current situation?
A/We are in the middle of an increasing curve of viral infection. It will increase more in the days to come. During the lockdown, with very low testing and people cooped up in their homes, the virus incubated and spread among close contacts. Therefore, during the lockdown, there was no period in which the curve showed flattening. Now, after unlocking, it is spreading everywhere.
Q/How is it spreading?
A/Initially, the government focused on the so-called doubling rate and it was widely proclaimed that the rate had decreased. However, that is a useful parameter only during the early stages. It will definitely take longer for 5,000 cases to become 10,000 than [it takes for] 50 to become 100. We need to see how many days it takes to reach a fixed number like one lakh. In India, the first one lakh cases took 110 days. Now, it takes three to four days.
Q/Is there no way to check the increase now?
A/There is no easy way now. At the time when it was possible to test and isolate the limited number of cases, it was not done. Subsequently, tests have increased, but it is difficult to keep up with the number of cases now. Also, the medical system is reaching its limits as it was not sufficiently strengthened during this time.
Q/How long will the pandemic last?
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Pressure Points
Author and MP Shashi Tharoor and motivational speaker Gaur Gopal Das on how to find healing and meaning in today's world
War Over Wounded Earth
For the BJP andthe Congress, the ravaged farmlands of Vidarbha represent a cxitieal battleground in their larger struggle to win Maharashtra
Say no to continual elections
Following the recommendations of a high-level committee led by former president Ram Nath Kovind to streamline the widely scattered schedule of national, state and local elections, the Union cabinet has reportedly approved two constitutional amendment bills for likely introduction in Parliament. Predictably, the return of the ‘one nation, one election’ issue to news has set off a flurry of objections by several opposition leaders.
Fabulously, fashionably funny
The third season of the Karan Johar-produced Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives dropped on Netflix, but articles criticising the show appear in some news site or the other almost daily. If it is so bad, why keep writing about it? And if it is so bad, why would the superpowers at Netflix, who are harder to meet than the prime minister, commission the show season after season?
All in the family
The Chitaras have been passing down the secret art of Mata Ni Pachedi through generations for more than 400 years now
Raise a toast to Vidya Balan
Vidya Balan is a New Year baby. At 45, she is aglow in the most beautiful way, having won the hearts and admiration of countless fans across the world, who watched the supremely talented actor take a public tumble on stage at a high-profile promotional event recently, sharing the platform with no less a dancer than the eternally graceful Madhuri Dixit.
Death no bar
Being alive is not a legal requirement to be elected president of the United States
The Lotus POTUS
You should visit us one of these days— there is so much excitement in our USA! No, I don’t mean the famous USA—the Ulhasnagar Sindhi Association of Mumbai.
RAY OF HOPE
Actor and cancer survivor Lisa Ray talks to oncologist Dr Jame Abraham about inner strength and her surrogacy journey
LEVERAGE AI TO ENHANCE WORK
AT THE WEEK Health Summit, Siddharth Bagga, head (retail, CPG and health care), Google Cloud, elaborated on the significant work that Google has been doing in health care through artificial intelligence (AI).
