As lockdown brought all economic activities to a halt, hitting production and consumption, leading industrialist Anand Mahindra advocated quick return to economic activity and also suggested ways to get the better of the dreaded Coronavirus.

The Mahindra Group chairman said that while the lockdown has helped save lives, the country will be risking an economic hara-kiri (ritualistic suicide) if the lockdown is extended for long.

“The number of new cases has risen, despite flattening the previous few days,” Mahindra tweeted saying the people should not expect a swift flattening of the curve.

“A functioning & growing economy is like an immune system for livelihoods. A lockdown weakens that immune system and most hurts the impoverished in our society,” he said in his series of tweets.

“India’s death rate per million is currently 1.4 compared to the global average at 35 & the US at 228. We’ve also bought time to enhance medical infrastructure,” he said in one of the tweets.

India went into a complete lockdown on March 25, forcing many businesses to shut overnight. The nationwide lockdown had impacted thousands of migrant workers losing their jobs and leaving them stranded in several cities. The nation has now over 1,83, 022 active coronavirus cases, as reported on June 24.

The leading industrialist said the economy needs to be re-opened, while suggesting that the goal should be to continue preventing avoidable deaths. He further suggested a four-point agenda, which included:

1. Rapidly build field hospitals equipped with oxygen lines (ventilators aren’t critical now),

2. Deploy widespread testing and tracing;

3. Focus on containment not through zones but at sub pin code levels; and finally

4. Protect the elderly & the medically vulnerable.

“We have to live with the virus. It’s not here on a tourist visa with an expiry date,” Mahindra quoted a colleague.