'Shutdown Temporarily To End Cycle Of Transmission': White House Chief Medical Advisor On India's Covid Crisis

"We are very pained to see India suffering so much. And that's the reason why the rest of the world needs to chip in and help," he added.

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New Delhi: The White House's chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci gave his opinion on what India could do in order to curb the rapid spread of the virus. He emphasized on the need for a temporary shutdown in order to break the chain. 

Fauci also talked about how every country should chip in to help India which is battling a very violent second wave. On Saturday, India reported over 4 Lakh fresh cases in the last 24 hours which is the highest reported in any other country. 

"You can shutdown temporarily to put an end to the cycle of transmission. So one of the things to be considered is to temporarily shut down," Fauci told The Indian Express in an interview.

"We are very pained to see India suffering so much. And that's the reason why the rest of the world needs to chip in and help," he added.

Talking about how the vaccination drive must be accelerated he said, "To have a country like India, where two per cent of people are vaccinated, is a very serious situation. You absolutely have to get more people vaccinated". He further told The Indian Express, "You’ve got to get supplies. You’ve got to make contractual arrangements with the various companies that are out there in the world. There are many companies that now have vaccines. I think you have to negotiate with them to try and get a commitment." 

He also emphasised that along with lockdown, the most important thing is to get oxygen, supplies, medication, PPE and vaccinations. 

India has so far administered 15,49,89,635 doses since January 16 when the world's largest inoculation exercise started.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHF) on Saturday said that India witnessed the highest spike of 4,01,999 fresh cases of Covid-19 and 3,523 fatalities due to Covid-19 infection in the last 24 hours.

Hopeful that India will recover, he said, "There is suffering now but I guarantee that we will get it back to normal. Hang in there, help each other".