Visakhapatnam: Experts lay emphasis on safety protocol post lockdown

Visakhapatnam: Laying emphasis on five main aspects, such as staying at home, maintaining social distance, following hygiene protocols, covering the nose and mouth and spiritual intervention, a team of experts have come out with a bunch of measures to stop the spread of novel coronavirus.

Professors of GITAM Institute of Management (GIM), GITAM (Deemed to be University), Visakhapatnam – K R R Gandhi, S S Prasada Rao and K V R Murthy mention that the objective of their study on Covid-19 is to appeal to people to follow precautionary measures to contain the pandemic from spreading even after the lockdown concludes on May 3.

Considering the potency of the virus, K V R Murthy, Professor of Operations and Supply Chain, GIM and a disaster management expert, underlines the need to follow safety measures post the lockdown period. "A century ago, the world was ravaged by a similar disaster known as Spanish Flu. The present pandemic appears to be another disaster which needs to be tackled with collective effort and self-discipline," he stresses.

According to Data Scientist and Professor of Data Science K R R Gandhi, the statistics revealed by some of the countries may not give a 'real' picture. "Unlike Singapore and the US, other countries are not disclosing the actual number of coronavirus positive cases. This may be due to various reasons and bringing down the fear factor among people might be one of the reasons. There are also glitches in the way the testing is being carried over in the state and the country as well. At present, only 3 per cent is covered for sample-testing and this should go up at least 18 per cent," suggested the Data Scientist.

Sharing his observations, S S Prasada Rao, Management Professor, advises to check the history of a place before visiting even after the lockdown gets lifted. "It is difficult to predict as to when the pandemic might actually stop spreading. Knowing about the place we visit is one of the precautionary measures we should follow for the next six months or so. Self-discipline is the key to combat against the infection. Staying at home as much as possible, being in isolation, positive thinking, spiritual interventions along with following all the safety protocols will go a long way in putting up the collective fight against the disease," Prasada Rao added.