The scientists in Britain have suggested staggered lockdown periods to check the spread of coronavirus disease Covid-19. They say there should be system of working for 30 days and then living under lockdown for another 50 days.

This cycle is the only way we can get break the chain of infection, the scientists said. They want this arrangement to be in place till 2022.

The scientists have based their results on data from 16 countries. The study has been reported by Hindustan Times’ Hindi language publication Hindustan.

The study has been conducted by a group of scientists at the Cambridge University and published in the European Joruanl of Epidemology. Dr Rajiv Chaudhary, who led the research, said that following this routine will help save jobs. It will also help in mitigating financial instability and social interruption.

The researchers, however, say that testing, contact tracing and isolation should continue.

The researchers have presented three potential scenarios to back their claim. The first, as suggested by these scientists, will help in reducing the spread of the infection. And it will end the pandemic in 18 days, the researchers have claimed. The second scenario talks about taking no steps at all. This will lead to death of 78 lakh people and the pandemic ill last for 200 days.

The third scenario presented by the researchers talks about giving relaxations during the lockdown for 50 days and then opening up for 30 days. This, they say, will lead to increase in cases going to the intensive care and result in death of 35 lakh people.

The number of Covid-19 cases crossed five million on Wednesday as the pandemic continued to devastate the globe where close to 3,25,000 people have now died due to it and millions more find themselves unemployed and at the risk of poverty.

The latest million took 12 days, compared to 11 days that it took for the number to go from three to four million infections. Several hard-hit countries such as Italy and Spain have crossed their peaks and are reopening slowly, but officials have cautioned against a second wave.

The number of infections is now equivalent to the population of New Zealand.

Brazil, Russia and India are emerging as the new hot spots while the US remains on top of the list of countries adding new cases.