NEW DELHI, May 8. /TASS/. The Indian government’s timely introduction of a strict and effective lockdown has helped prevent a dramatic upsurge in the number of novel coronavirus cases, in contrast to situations in Italy, the United States and other Western countries, India’s famous chest surgeon, Professor Dr. Arvind Kumar, founder and managing trustee of the Lung Care foundation, told TASS in an interview on Friday.
He recalled that India’s authorities imposed tough restrictions on March 25, when several hundred COVID-19 patients had been identified nationwide.
"India applied the lockdown, when our cases were about 600 total. Very early. When you apply the lockdown so early, you prevent a large number of people from getting infected. The reason why Europe and the US saw a large number of cases, while India has not seen anything like that is India applied the lockdown very early and very effectively. The two reasons are: very early and very effectively," Dr. Kumar said.
The way he sees it, the European countries and the United States had wasted too much time. Their eventual response to the epidemic was belated, he believes. Drastic measures followed only when the coronavirus started claiming dozens of lives a day. In Dr. Kumar’s opinion the policy of social distancing eventually turned out effective in Italy, France, Spain and Britain. In the United States, though, such measures were less effective, because "people kept mingling, people kept meeting and the infection kept spreading," Dr. Kumar said, adding that in enforcing the lockdown discipline was of the essence.
Hot climate and yoga are of little help
Dr. Kumar disagrees with speculations a warm climate is a factor that helps fight against the infection.
"I do not subscribe to that view that a hot climate contributes to this, because Singapore is also as hot as we are. But in Singapore it [the infection] is spreading. [It is spreading] even in our country in areas where the social distancing could not be maintained as well. For example, there is a slum area in Mumbai. There, it is spreading very fast. This shows that it is not the temperature, it is this social distancing that makes all the difference," he stressed.
The specialist warns that such traditional Indian practices as yoga, Ayurveda, and others should by no means be considered as a potential cure from the coronavirus infection.
"There are lots of traditional techniques, like yoga and breathing exercises. We also have certain items which can be eaten. For example, turmeric, ginger, garlic. All these things, which are supposed to increase your immunity. If you do all these things, you may increase your immunity a little bit, make you a little bit fitter. Therefore, there may be slightly less chances of getting infection. But if somebody was to say that if you practice yoga, you will never get corona, and if you don’t practice yoga, you will always get corona, it is not true," he said.
Even though India has been easing the lockdown somewhat, the situation will take months to get back to normal to a point where foreign tourists might start visiting the country again, Dr Kumar predicts.
"I don’t think it’s going to happen in May or June. Not for at least two months. I think that tourism cannot start for at least two months. At least. I am not saying that it will start in two months. I’m saying: not in May, not in June. Then maybe we’ll see how things are in July. We are to see how things are in India and we have to see how things are abroad. In other countries," Dr. Kumar said.
As of Friday morning, the number of COVID-19 cases in India stood at 56,342. According to India’s Health and Family Welfare, the virus has killed 1,886.