This thread summarizes key arguments in a superb piece by @pravchak in @httweets today: https://m.hindustantimes.com/analysis/learning-to-live-with-coronavirus-writes-praveen-chakravarty/story-agykD5a0T0n1QX03fWgkIL.html:">https://m.hindustantimes.com/analysis/... "After 20 million tests, 2.5 million cases &a little under 200,000 deaths across the world, the following facts about #Covid19 can now be established:
"1. 99% of people below 60 w/ no pre-existing disease are safe.
2. the Indian Council of Medical Research’s finding is that more than 70% of Covid-19 infected Indians are asymptomatic: unaware of their infection, unwittingly transmit it to others & unknowingly recover from it.
2. the Indian Council of Medical Research’s finding is that more than 70% of Covid-19 infected Indians are asymptomatic: unaware of their infection, unwittingly transmit it to others & unknowingly recover from it.
"3. Even for vulnerable people, the fatality rate of #Covid19 is not as high as initially estimated&is perhaps the same as severe influenza
4. contrary to belief, there is no evidence of either the weather or genes providing natural immunity for Indians.
[contd.]
4. contrary to belief, there is no evidence of either the weather or genes providing natural immunity for Indians.
[contd.]
"In short, a majority of Indians may get infected&recover from Covid-19, obliviously. There is no vaccine for the disease expected for at least 18 months. Until such time, a lockdown is neither a cure nor viable. Learning to live cautiously w/the virus is the only pragmatic way.
"India is not free from #Covid19 &cannot throw caution to the winds. Weighing trade-offs w/improved knowledge of the epidemic, returning to a “new normal” w/adequate protection for the vulnerable, precautions of distancing &hygiene is the most optimum strategy." #LockdownLift END