Ashok Gehlot’s mantra to check spread of coronavirus

By Anil SharmannMartin Luther King Jr. once said, ?The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.? The quote seems appropriate in present circumstances for Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot who is facing one of massive challenges, the coronavirus pandemic.nnIn tough times he has proven that he is not only pro-active but preemptive too when it comes to dealing with controlling of lethal novel corona virus in the state.nnWorld Health Organisation (WHO) has been very clear in its approach and has asked countries to go for testing, testing and testing to curb the spread of Covid-19. Former president of the Congress Rahul Gandhi has also maintained that mass testing is the key to fighting the virus. He in a presser held recently said that lockdown can only “pause” the spread of novel coronavirus, not end it.nnGandhi rightly said that to fight coronavirus, testing is one of the main methods so government should ramp it up.nnSince the first patient, an Italian tourist was found Covid 19 virus positive in the state on March 2, Rajasthan government under the leadership of chief minister Ashok Gehlot started to undertake tests in the state as he knew it was important if spread of the virus had to be curtailed.nnRajasthan under leadership of the Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot stands tall when it comes to testing for Coronavirus in India, a great achievement.nnIn fact, Rajasthan and Kerala are now leading in coronavirus testing. As per available data till April 17 evening, Rajasthan had conducted tests on over 42750 persons and 9160, maximum in the state were conducted in Jaipur.nnIt is because of pro-activeness of chief minister Ashok Gehlot, Rajasthan became the first state in the country to carry out Rapid Testing for Covid 19.nnBeginning on April 17th evening, 52 persons were tested at the urban PHC Topkhana Desh (also known as Jaju Dispensary). Fortunately, all the 52 persons tested negative.nnThough, Rapid Test is not a confirmatory test for Covid 19, but, it helps in quickly isolating the person tested positive so that the spread is prevented.nnRajasthan government plans to do rapid tests at a large scale to assess the prevalence of Covid 19 in hotspots – both in the containment and the buffer zones around the clusters. The tests will be done at designated points on people with symptoms and super spreaders that are persons who are likely to be in contact with multiple persons like vegetable vendors, grocery shops persons etc.nnBesides this, the state will continue PCR based testing in more aggressive manner in the containment zones all over Rajasthan. A judicious mix of PCR based testing and rapid testing will help Rajasthan to control and manage Covid 19 in an efficient manner, state governmentnnIf sources are to be believed, the state government now is also considering for going in for pool testing, as positivity rate in cases is still low. Whenever government goes for it, chances are high the state government may go quite soon for it, then for pool testing preferable number of samples to be pooled would be five.nnAnother great thing to control spread of deadly virus, which has killed over 1.5 lakh persons worldwide.nnRajasthan has also made wearing face mask mandatory for persons going out of their houses. A right decision aimed to contain the spread of coronavirus pandemic in the state,nnGehlot is firm in his view that ?Ruthless containment is the key to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in any city?. He is right as besides lockdown, which cannot be carried on forever, testing and social distancing are the main ways to control spread of virus.nnBecause of his pro-active steps and his crisis management skills Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot is respected not only by his party colleagues but also by opposition leaders.nnRajasthan?s Bhilwara Mode for containment of spread of coronavirus has been appreciated by the Union government too and the state government has started to share presentation on it with state governments showing interest in it.