Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
Interviews | K Sujatha Rao, former Union Secretary at Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, interviewed by Narayan Lakshman (The Hindu)
K Sujatha Rao, former Union Secretary at Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, interviewed by Narayan Lakshman (The Hindu)

K Sujatha Rao, former Union Secretary at Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, interviewed by Narayan Lakshman (The Hindu)

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Apr 6, 2020   modified Modified on Apr 7, 2020

-The Hindu

Former Union Health Secretary says the infection has come mainly from those middle-class people who have been abroad and come back to India

K. Sujatha Rao served as Union Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for the Indian government, until 2010, where she was involved in the process for a national policy for use of antibiotics, introducing vaccines in public health, and the first-ever national programme for non-communicable diseases. Her extensive experience in government puts her at the very heart of the debate on the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, especially questions surrounding system preparedness in India.

Edited excerpts:

* Do you think that there’s a higher risk of infection cases surging in rural areas after the lockdown was announced and large numbers of migrants moved out of the cities?

We are not getting the sort of data we need for such an analysis, to answer that question on urban versus rural. We know that 30% of districts today have shown some sign of infection. But is it still continuing to be a metro or semi-urban phenomenon, or has it penetrated rural areas – we don’t know until we get the locations of the cases and an analysis from each State. This also applies to other categories such as gender and age.

Having said that, it is normally believed that since migrants have gone into rural areas, they are likely to be spreading the infection there. If, as the government says the virus hasn’t penetrated the community yet, continues to be a locally transmitted infection, and is very much in a containment phase around hots pots, then the source of infection assumes importance.

Please click here to read more.

 

Image Courtesy: The Hindu/ CV Subrahmanyam


The Hindu, 6 April, 2020, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/class-dimension-to-covid-19-needs-to-be-understood/article31274412.ece?homepage=true


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close