The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has appealed to chief ministers of states to avoid introducing lockdowns as they will push the economy into a downward spiral.
FICCI President Uday Shankar wrote on COVID management and strategies. "As the economy has barely begun to turn around from the impact of the earlier lockdowns, we should avoid introducing another lockdown or even a partial lockdown in the states," he said in the letter.
"Resorting to such a drastic measure at this stage may not be conducive to the overall situation and will push the economy into a downward spiral."
This letter is written to chief ministers of Delhi, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Tripura, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Goa, Puducherry, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, J&K, Odisha, Sikkim, Kerala, Manipur, Bihar, Nagaland, Mizoram, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Assam, and Tamil Nadu.
Instead of lockdown or partial lockdown, the letters further suggest that states take steps like ramping up to covid testing, awareness drive, and enforcement of COVID appropriate behavior like wearing masks, physical distancing, and personal hygiene.
Support may be taken by involving volunteers from schools, colleges, and NGOs. Strict compliance to COVID protocol may be ensured with suitable penalties for violations.
FICCI has represented to the Union Government to open up the vaccination for all the people above 18 years of age to give a massive push to the vaccination drive as there is no shortage of vaccines and the inoculation capacity can be increased with the participation of the private sector.
"The state government will have to play a major role to encourage people to come forward for vaccination and build capacities with the help of the private sector for the expected jump in inoculation," wrote Shanker in the letter.
"Vaccination camps in the colonies and societies with the help of resident welfare associations (RWAs) will also help push the vaccination drive," the letter added.