It hasn’t been perfect, but India has done a reasonably good job on most counts: airport screening, quarantining, public awareness, and even contact tracing in most places. Yet it is feared that the community transmission of coronavirus could be upon us, a mass explosion of cases that India is not well-equipped to handle.
Let us hope that does not happen. But if it does, the main cause will be want of testing facilities. And we don’t know why India has been so slow in scaling up testing facilities. Was it lack of resources, complacency, or an effort to artificially keep the number of positive COVID-19 cases low? Perhaps it was all of these.
The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) says it has found no positive case of coronavirus in 500 randomly collected samples of respiratory disease patients in ICUs. That sort of thing is hardly a justification to not test people with symptoms. A friend of mine who thinks he has coronavirus symptoms called a government helpline all day and after finally getting through, was told to reach Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. At the hospital, dozens of people, including him, were refused a test because they had no travel history or immediate known contact with anyone who had a travel history to severely affected countries.
But what if even one of these has coronavirus? She or he could be spreading it and not taking adequate precaution, thinking that s/he can’t have the virus since the government doesn’t even feel the need to find out.
Also read: One coronavirus patient infects 1.7 people in India, much lower than in China, Italy: Study
Why mass testing is key to containing
This is the sort of mistake that every country which is now witnessing a mass explosion of cases has made. The reason Turkey has had only two coronavirus-related deaths so far, despite sharing a border with Iran, is because it has been proactive with testing. The reason the United States is seeing an exponential rise in the number of cases is that it didn’t take testing seriously. (Curiously, India banned travellers from Turkey but not the US.)
Countries and regions that have so far been able to contain, mitigate or delay the spread of coronavirus have all done so by scaling up testing. These include South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong. Of course, they were also ready with the infrastructure to deal with those who tested positive, such as quarantining them and protecting health workers and doctors.
Early and mass testing makes all the difference because, in many cases, coronavirus can be asymptomatic. Put simply, the virus may have entered your body but you do not show any symptoms at all. Unaware that you have coronavirus, you go around spreading it, making the vulnerable, such as frail and elderly people, very sick.
South Korea’s mass testing has proved that young people are getting coronavirus in large numbers but showing mild or no symptoms. By identifying and isolating such people, countries like South Korea have been able to contain the spread of the virus and keep their mortality rates low.
The importance of testing to isolate asymptomatic patients has now also been established through a mass experiment in Italy. The 3,300 residents of the small town of Vo were tested twice — all 3,300 of them. Those carrying the virus were isolated. By doing so, the spread was stopped. The number of new cases, as a result, is zero.
India is refusing to test those with symptoms. South Korea is testing even those with no symptoms.
Short of vaccination, mass testing is the best we can do, and we can do it through mass testing. It is like a race between humanity and a virus. Humanity is far behind, and we can play catch up only through testing. The silver bullet — vaccination — is more than a year away.
Also read: Yes, young people are falling seriously ill from Covid-19
No data, no problem
So why is India not testing more people? Looks like it is not about capacity. According to the Associated Press, India has the capacity of testing 8,000 samples a day and yet it is testing only 90 a day — as of 18 March. This is most strange for a country that has already seen three deaths.
Such lethargy in testing may be taken as a sign that the Narendra Modi government does not expect coronavirus to reach the stage of community transmission. But it clearly does reach that stage. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), mostly busy with the implementation of draconian citizenship laws, went back on its promise of giving a compensation of Rs 4 lakh for every coronavirus-related death. This suggests that the government fears a mass outbreak. Why, then, is it so reluctant to prevent a mass outbreak by mass testing?
The Modi government has ordered a million test kits from Germany and the ICMR has been slowly expanding testing. These measures were taken this week. They should have been taken latest by February, when it became clear that the epidemic was spreading worldwide, or at most by March first week, when it became clear that coronavirus was not going to be limited to one or two cases in Kerala.
Sadly, the Modi government has lost crucial time. The effort to contain or mitigate coronavirus pandemic in India will not look like the efforts taken in South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan or Turkey.
In the United States, President Donald Trump has been heavily criticised for being behind the curve on testing. The US media has investigated the reasons for it. In India, the media is an arm of the Modi government and the opposition doesn’t exist.
Perhaps the Modi government thinks it can overcome coronavirus by fudging or hiding data, and what better way to do so by not testing people? After all, the Modi government hides farmer suicide data, consumer spending data, or simply stops using the word drought to pretend it doesn’t happen anymore.
If denial is the strategy, we are in for a rude shock very soon. Narendra Modi may want to wait for a few weeks before trying to look like a global leader at the forefront in the fight against coronavirus.
The author is contributing editor to ThePrint. Views are personal.
Plus why do you always try to divide people? What’s this connection of corona to caa? You are nothing less than the advocate of nirbhaya’s rapists who connected rape case to corona outbreak. Criticise the people who are not matured enough to wash their hands even in the most “civilised” (As they like to call themselves to be recognized apart from rest of the country specially u.p and bihar) states.
Give hope.
Don’t divide.
Be safe.
Your ideology is unworthy if you only wish to criticize every effort . You might be hoping people to die so that you can criticize.
Have some principles not ideology then.
Why do you people always criticize?? In this time of negativity and distress all around can’t you spread some positive news about revival of hope??
You are no different than aaj tak abp news etc. You are also making people depressed like them intead of encouraging people to fight and show hope so that we as a community could help each other you are putting people to hopelessness in this time when we need it the most.
You are good for nothing people. Your ideology can’t help people what kind of ideology is that then? Your ideology is shit if you don’t know how to connect and give hope to thw community in which you live.
Thanks for adding to my negativity .
Little brother of aaj tak .
seriously? So you’ll chose “unawareness” towards “what-if”. The data which you’ve seen is of those respiratory problem patients, not those continuously traveling working-people (I’m one of them) & I’m not criticizing the Govt. If you see a problem it is your call to solve it or pass it & you’re doing the latter one. Panic or seriously taking the precautions & preparing for the problem, what would you chose?
Get your facts right Mr. Shivam Vij.
Here in Singapore before the community spread, doctors were instructed not to test for people with symptoms given the fact due to limited quantity of testing kit and it’s high cost. Infact, one of the doctor had refused a patient to get tested citing – there was no community spread had happened so far and was asked to come back a week later if the symptoms persisted. This is the case of a developed country.
Wide community spread happened in the countries like SK, SG due to mass gatherings and while attending churches inspite of the govt requested to remain at home n maintain social distancing.
Kindly help to bring in awareness about Social distancing among our Indians instead of blaming Govt on and on by writing such derogatory article.
Your help to the country should be in a way to make the situation better and positive instead of spreading negativity and bringing down the spirit of citizens!
what about this? https://twitter.com/OpIndia_com/status/1241391617568722944
I completely agree with author. Italy’s medical system is way better than India and look at the explosion. Let’s hope we all are wrong but looking at china and italy, my brain is saying a big wave of avalanche is not away.
Shivam Vij may not like Modi or his govt fine. But give credit to where it is due. There are tireless service providers like doctors, nurses, airline staff, airport handlers, taxi drivers and many other service providers and they are all doing their job, pretty well, even though we may have some constraints. Recently there were quarrel in Delhi airport when a group of immigrants were shouting at the airport staff for delay in cleaning them. In spite of all the minor hiccups and deficiencies as they may exist, India has been successful, so far, in isolating the people, mostly on arrival (even though few irresponsible people jumped quarantine, risking themselves and few positive cases in spite of knowing they were affected went and attended Satsang and all) and their effective quarantine helped India to keep the spread minimum. We can call this as localized than becoming epidemic or pandemic. Coming weeks will let us know about how the curve moves. But still, with the facilities what India has, the numbers reported so far is far less in proportion to population, which is remarkable. This appreciated by many world over, including the Chinese news article recently. People like Shivam Vij knows how to make noise, as negative news only attracts people. If The Print is scoring a point through this article, well it deserves condemnation. Is he different than Rahul’s recent uttering?
It seems author is a modi critic. waiting desperately to blame him. You must know the capacity of testing the country is having. Stupid person/
Hey bro, The testing capacity is 8000 per day but right now they’re testing only 90 people… surely the government is missing the chance..
Hi Jayant..90 per lab not 90 persons a day
congressi ..page….wrong information…
Indian government is the worst govt compared to all other nations. There are no proper testing facilities in all over India. Till now only 6000 suspected cases were tested for coronavirus in india out of which 200 members were coronavirus positive . The total Indian population was 140 crores. Indian people don’t know whether they are in stage 2 or 3. A very horrible situation in India.
Then please test yourself from government which you think is better than “our” government. Speak sensible
Yay mmoronnn. Go to Italy or Iran.
after reading the comment thread , i feel like Mr. Vij will be 1st case of cordial attack due to over information about corona .
Our family girl had returned from Singapore last month and her toddler got symptoms after 10 days,when contacted local government hospital they sent them back with three days medicine..though child is stable now but family was really confused about what is being spread and what exactly is there…residing in a village they travelled so far to hospital …
It is high time that a ‘purge’ of ‘liberals’ is carried out in the Indonesian style. They number at most 10 lakhs in India, and therefore carrying out that purge is not infeasible form the perspective of logistics.
What can we expect for You, Your the person who is killing people in every riot!
It amaze me how Vij is not Critical to Non BJP Govt
Where from mass cases are reporting Kerala and Maharashtra
Trying to Include CAA in Corona Article
Trying to point out ban on turkey not US
People like Vij
just wishing million of people in India should die so they can brutally criticize Modi Govt
Agar corona virus fela na India me. to BJP dos Congress Sarkar Ko degi. Likhe le lo
Whatever Mr Vij’s bias, it should not stop us from debating what needs to be done. Testing everybody is out of the question. So only 2 realistic options remain
1. Test all symptomatic individuals, irrespective of travel or exposure history ( presently we are testing only individuals with travel or contact history). Aggressively quarantine all positive cases and contacts.
2. Complete lockdown – Wuhan style – for next 4 weeks with attendant risks of social and economic disruption.
Sitting at home on one Sunday and clapping hands is no solution at all.
You are exactly right, I wish our govt. does that!
I suppose we have recorded 4 deaths till now. Majority of those were people who got infected abroad. Please not it was not due to local transmission, If you are an expert than how could ignore this fact?
if i say to Author bad word , all people think i am modi bhakt. But Mr. Shivam you really dont have sense of humor. Please come out from your imagination and think about real world. everyone know we are developing country not developed country . So dont compare India . Indian goverment take necessary action to stop Corona very actively.
You think your are smart but the reality is, many people which now working for stopping corona have too good knowledge and sense of humor with respect to you.
What a great reply
Purely political article. Nothing informatry. Also, India’s approach is what is required for a country with a huge population, testing everyone is not possible. Testing suspected people and advising everyone else to stay at home is the most sensible thing to do. Everyone crowding at testing centers is only going to spread it further.
At least for once write something positive!
An article piece which should be discarded right away.
At least for once write something positive!
An article piece which should be discarded right away.
Honestly, have some shame The Print. By publishing this article, you are not being much different from the Western media whose main aim is to malign India’s image because they cannot watch it become a superpower.
Having an opposing view of an ideology or political party is different from altogether shaming your own country of birth.
Mass testing will not only create panic but will also result in a shortage of kits if ever a community outbreak happens.
But why shall they harbor any shame ? Shivam’s sensational articles bring traffics to this site.
This is a sensible article, and the writer should ignore the backlash, just like those ignoring and turning a blind eye to the million shortcomings of our government.
Well said. I am appalled by the ignorance in understanding the crux of the whole article. It is a dangerous phase but whom to make aware of! Sad state…
India has taken the right stand. The report has no justification. Considering the panic already created by media, everyone would start asking for a test and how do you set the priority? don’t try to be critical of India on every occasion, you loose your credibility.
If we start testing everyone then one million kits would be sufficient for only for one day in just one Mumbai local train passengers
Mass testing of people with respiratory symptoms may not be required. But active surveillance and testing of people who are suspected to have come in contact with a positive or someone coming from outside countries is a must to prevent mass transmission. There is bound to be a chaos once mass transmission starts.
Of course apart from testing vigorous quarantining of contacts and isolation of positives can arrest the epidemic.
It’s not expert rather hate inspired bastard opinion….bogus article
This guy really needs some knowledge of medical facts and how things in medicine word works before writing such article and showing his idiocy. Anyways even in this difficult times one can’t even expect some sense from The Print which is a communist driven platform.
Literally . Sick of all this negativity. No better than aaj tak and abp
Shivam Vij. So pathetic article with lame reference like one of my friend. Shame on you. India is a vast country, and with such blatant article, it might result in widespread Panic. Is this what you want?
God would be ashamed to made the pathetic writer of this article.
Shame on you Vij. Read the comments here. No one has an appreciation for yoyr expert views. Not all of them must be Modi bhakts. So you can gauge the value given to your expert views by the readers ! Kearn to give credit where it us dye, if you want to last in this profession and taken seriously !
Agreed
Currently I’m living in Daegu city in South Korea which is the epicenter of Korean virus cases. What author mentions is wrong they’re not testing every one without symptoms, it’s completely wrong. They are only testing when you have symptoms or if they suspect you may have contact with people with travel history and if you want to test without symptoms you have to pay 160,000 KRW which is 9000INR approx. if you test positive then you no need to pay.
Thanks for sharing this. This news must be shared with everyone particularly the NDTV types who are shouting and howling about ICMR not yet allowing private clinics to get into testing business. They are angling for government to pay for testing for any one and everyone by quoting South Korea example and that WHO guy who said test test and test. South Korea has done a sensible thing- you can pay for your testing and if proved positive, the government reimburses.
Such a insensitive and politicized article during such a situation shows how biased this article writer is. Such write ups should not be allowed to publish at this time of chaos. Purely political article worth nothing informatory
Sir, I can assure you that if we start testing as widely as you suggest in a country as populated as India we will run out of 1 million kits in no time and will be found wanting when we need to test people who really need it. Random testing as is happening in India is a smart way of recognizing communities at high risk for spread without exhausting resources. Working as a health care provider in US I can assure you India is ahead of US in managing this Pandemic currently. Give kudos where needed.
yaa truly.. criticising one nation is not always right then may it be the worlds second largest populated country i n the world…. govt of india should be appreciated for management of pandemic and awarting situations as of california italy
Seriously is a journalist or want to spew venom on some one….can u compare a country of billons with country of millions?? Give this guy a medal and his followers
Now Dr. Shivam Vij will enlighten us on how we should take care of Covid 19! ICMR is taking care of its responsibilities and Modi government has acted very responsibly and proactively on this issue. State governments are contributing in their own ways. There is no need for Dr. Shivam Vij to bother the country on this issue. He should rather bother about “serious” implications of Modi’s political stock skyrocketing after SAARC video conference, Modi’s appeal to the nation today and idea of ‘Janata Curfew’ and proposed video conference with G 20 leaders.
Fully agree. What prevents all non-BJP governments from doing mass tests. Central govt has not banned mass testing by state governments and as BJP haters gleefully point out most of states are ruled by non-bjp. So even when state govt is wrong Vij blames BJP showing his bias
Under the able guidance of the MOTHER and son n daughter Shivam would have controlled Corona on EARTH.
Total biased artivle, as always by a pompous & self professed expert on every subject under the sun. It seems people like him are just praying for the virus to affect our masses so they can blame Modi & the government
There’s a rule emerging on LinkedIn and Facebook – if what you’re reading isn’t from an epidemiologist or based on epidemiologists working on the ground or from a local leader coordinating the response – it is noise.
Well said
This guy is silly. Lets first accept the fact that India has only 0.9 beds per 1000 population ..For comparison, Italy has 7 beds per 1000 population. Now assume that India by some magic is able to test not 10,000 per day as South Korea but maybe 100,000 per day….First India cannot charge its patients (too many poor people who cannot pay), assume that 10% test positive, this is not confirmation yet..You will need to do CT Scan and monitor everyday. Can India afford…I think WHO is talking nonsense and not practically..even China could not conduct tests for all, simply because of large size of population. I am not trying to justify the govt, instead I am talking reality…In a virtual world, maybe India can test…But thats not going to happen, because after test, what will you do…Can you give beds to those tested positive? Who should you admin, and whom should you not….It doesnt seem Indian medical system can scale up…It will only cause panic with no real benefit, in the sense that I dont think lives will be saved..instead more lives will be lost.
I clearly agree to Vij as it makes perfect sense in its own. There are some people who don’t show symptoms but can still spread the illness. . .. to the vulnerable sections of the society. The only way to stop this spread is through mass testing. Only then we will be able to isolate them. Even though mass testing can not be done. But suspected cases should be tested. ICMR has done 1000 random samples checking but can not be satisfied with it in the country of billion people. .everyone has their own views
I clearly agree to Vij as it makes perfect sense in its own. There are some people who don’t show symptoms but can still spread the illness. . .. to the vulnerable sections of the society. The only way to stop this spread is through mass testing. Only then we will be able to isolate them. Even though mass testing can not be done. But suspected cases should be tested. ICMR has done 1000 random samples checking but we can not be satisfied with it in the country of billion people. .everyone has their own views
What is the credibility of his highness Shivam Vij other than being a liberal and Modi hater? Oh sorry, that is enough credibility 🙂
Mr. Vij’s biases show up within the first few sentences. The Print tries very hard to hide its leftist / liberal leanings and sound neutral but such articles give it away.
This idiot Vij is a mediocre writer. Lucky he can still earn his living writing trash, as media always needs content. He thinks people are fools to believe that everything is perfect in developed countries, and indeed in China.
Fully agree. What prevents all non-BJP governments from doing mass tests. Central govt has not banned mass testing by state governments and as BJP haters gleefully point out most of states are ruled by non-bjp. So even when state govt is wrong Vij blames BJP showing his bias
Cursing the indians for not falling I’ll? WHO can do a better work by disclosing the origin of virus as it is more concerned in naming than taming the virus.
So this author has come to show his “healthcare and policy expertise” from his “political expertise”. How one man can bullshit so much. Please discontinue this gentleman from writing for The print
Very few journalists are as prejudiced as Shivam Vij,before 1919 election results he was waxing eloquent NDTV how NDA will lose,he is one of those of people who have been supporting Shaheen bagh type protests which could be epicenters of infection, but our self appointed Virologist ignores this and finger points at the govt all the time.
The author is making moot points. India is not south korea or Taiwan in terms of size of population. We should understand that every respiratory disease is not corona virus and everyone without corona disease doesn’t exhibit illness. If you start testing everyone you will run out of kits within minutes. Even developed countries don’t have enough reagents. Universal testing is still not being performed in countries like Australia . However, testing everyone is important when there is evidence of community transmission. And as mentioned before not everyone exposed to Covid will develop severe illness thus we are only concerned about the ones with severe illness, hence testing severely ill patients such as ones in ICU makes absolute sense.
Shivam vij makes perfect sense. If in initial stage tests are intensive you can prevent mass transmission. People with mild illness will spread the infection to vulnerable group , moreover they will cause community transmission of the infection.
Yeah U r right madam. I see it a intention with more accuracy to save our people. Not to quarrel or support government etc. It’s a true duty of any government to save it’s people without any delay. Hoping lot.
I am a healthcare provider myself. And, I personally think that what the government is doing is apt. For a second, just for a second, stop seeing Modi as the tyrant you hate and analyze. This writer is no expert in healthcare fueld and how all this works. So, better shut up. Also, all the countries out there have checked only the people who show or showed symptoms and the ones who came in contact with the infected individual. And, the rest, are asked to take precautions and isolate themselves from the world for a while, physically. This is how things work. Speaking on social media won’t help. First line responders and their heads know it better. So, stop creating hype and panic. Because, as is said in our profession, psyche plays more important role in healing.
This guy..vij is insane…
Let’s hope Corona virus is handled better than the economy. Because if not, the economic catastrophe that will follow is going to cripple us!!
Saw Modi addressing Saarc. Besides being on TV which he loves, not sure how it solved India’s problems.
This is the kind of write ups you get when ignorant journalists pretend to know it all. No wonder journalists are no longer taken seriously.
I just don’t know why this guy is allowed his propaganda here on ThePrint? He can go the Huffington Post and do daydreaming there…
Modi and his nincompoops r going to take India to doldrums by their careless behavior. Worst is yet to come.
Aap Portugal se kab Aaye?
Usko bhagaya gaya wahaan se
Communists invest on poverty. They want the whole country to be shutdown and crash the economy. Put more poor people in trouble
and gain some vote bank