Dear PM @narendramodi, today's briefing would be late.

The thing is Wife wants me to make lunch first. I asked can I do it later.

She said, that would be okay, but there may be retaliation. Why wouldn't there be!

So you get it right, I am doing a you & making lunch first. 1/n

It took me more time to accede to that friendly request. Expecting a thank you. But I am sure she'll just say that I was only doing my job.

Anyway, we are diverting. It is not about me. No. It is not about you either. It is about all of us. Let's get on with the briefing. 2/n

You see dear PM, many of our friends here are really upset that I criticise you. They ask, don't you think these failures are happening across the world? It is not like it is just India? Shouldn't we be thanking & appreciating the govt for trying its best? Why criticise? 3/n

They also ask if other governments in the past have been able to meticulously plan and execute a policy flawlessly keeping in mind all the possible repercussions and painstakingly having chalked out a contingency plan for the same? So why criticise your government on that? 4/n

I think you know the answers to both these questions. In every functional democracy, the govts there are being vehemently criticised for their mistakes & failures. Govts everywhere are being held accountable on a constant and continuous basis during this crisis period. 5/n

On comparison with past governments, I mean isn't democracy a constant endeavour to improve? Demanding more, better and faster from the government in power. And it is through these constant demands, governments are made to deliver. It is a never ending process. 6/n

So don't lose heart when you hear criticism in my briefings dear PM @narendramodi. Criticisms and suggestions go hand in hand. If you try to shut-down one, you will end up shutting down the other as well. Anyway you get more than your share of appreciation from media 24x7. 7/n

So, as I had shared with you in an earlier briefing, we have made this Covid-19 into a huge social stigma now. People are being 'accused' of 'spreading' corona virus. People are suspicious of other people coughing. We criminalised a disease. 8/n https://twitter.com/naukarshah/status/1245590069185900544?s=20

That social stigma is partly responsible for this 80% decline in daily #TB notifications during the #COVID19 lockdown period compared to the average daily notifications

Other reasons of course being diverted healthcare capacity & lack of transport. https://mailchi.mp/stoptb.org/covid-19-affects-tb-services?e=d38bfb4144 9/n

This disease can go the leprosy way with all the social stigma, isolation and ostracisation. Or we can bring it to at least the chicken-pox way. Wherein adequate caution and distance is exercised while not ostracising the patient. 10/n

One way is to explore the possibility of tagging the recovered as Corona-Immune. Request the healthy & willing among them to work as Corona-Immune Volunteers to fight from the frontline. I understand that there is no conclusive scientific consensus on duration of immunity. 11/n

But it seems till now there have been no cases of re-infection & broad consensus is immunity for an year. So, definitely worth considering. Like how a person in the family who has once had chicken-pox becomes the contact person for the new patient? Something like that. 12/n

Right now the number may look small. But as the disease spreads, this number of people who have developed anti-bodies and gained immunity will increase exponentially. They could become our asset in fighting this disease. 13/n

If herd immunity is our only way out of this disease as many epidemiologists are suggesting, then we need to convert our weakness into our strength. Our numbers.

In addition, this will also help immensely to take away the stigma associated with the disease now. 14/n

This is on the assumption of no re-infection and at least a few weeks immunity. If that does not hold true and if reports of re-infections are true, then even herd immunity is not going to be of much help I guess. 15/n

Coming to the 2nd issue of vulnerable people to this disease in India? As was briefed earlier, in India, elderly are not the only vulnerable group. People with less immunity, malnourishment & presence of other diseases are generally high in India. 16/n https://twitter.com/naukarshah/status/1246003467044261888?s=20

Also, as we know that we won't be in a position to create the manpower or infrastructure to deal with an exponential Covid spread (if there is any), we need to actively work on developing self-monitoring capacity in our population. Especially the vulnerable population. 17/n

Here our mobile penetration helps. Create a voluntary force, train them on what are the things to monitor. Then from their homes only they can call people and tell them as to what are the things to daily monitor. Creating sort of an assisted self-monitoring mechanism. 18/n

Assuming community spread, active monitoring by healthcare personnels of entire population with epidemiological risk-factors might not be possible in India. Creating massive assisted self-monitoring capacity would be of importance. This will also multiply our state capacity. 19/n

Moot point being, there is an immediate need to enhance our state capacity. Not just volunteering to offer food. But beyond that, we need to create a framework where people can assist the govt in a systemic way to deal with the crisis, without violating the lockdown. 20/n

You are not alone in this fight dear PM. We are all with you. But don't reduce us to just clapping thaalis, or lighting diyas. Ever enterprising youth of the country is ready to act as the force-multiplier in this fight. Create the frame-work. The Force will be with you. 21/21