The coronavirus started in Wuhan city of China. The first positive case in India was recorded on 30th January 2020. It took almost 3 months to reach 100 cases. At the current rate, it is predicted that the ‘ending phase’ of the spread in India should start from May 9. Japan saw a 13% daily increase in cases before reaching 100 cases and an 8.1% daily increase in cases from its 100th case to its latest. change in daily average cases was lower after the 100th in China, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan than before. They appear to have successfully flattened their curves compared to western Europe, the US, and India. As of April 14, 11,438 cases have been registered out of which 1305 have been cured and 377 have succumbed to it.
(Source: https://www.statista.com/)
A recent poll conducted by us on the expected outbreak of the virus in India showed that 61% of people anticipated an uncontrolled outbreak in India while the rest thought otherwise or have no clue about how the outbreak will go.
However, global reports state that the nation has one of the lowest numbers of COVID-19 cases per capita in the world. 5 out of 1000000 have been the reported cases in India while in the US and Italy it has been over 1000 and 2000 respectively.
A country with more than 1.3 billion population is supposedly doing better than the other countries in handling the COVID-19 spread by imposing severe measures to contain the virus spread including a nationwide lockdown declared for a period of 21 days on 24th March 2020 with essentials and medical facilities operating on a restricted time frame on a daily basis. Working from home, social distancing, lighting lamps, whipping coffee and digital entertainment have kept us going!
The end of the lockdown period raised many questions on the minds of people. 80% of the political parties requested the central government for an extension while a few people also demanded the same by using the hashtag #extendthelockdown when Tamil Nadu, Delhi, and Maharashtra announced a complete lockdown till the 30th of April.
On 14th April, the Prime minister extended the lockdown to 3rd May 2020 to combat the crucial stage of the spread while indicating that in safe areas, small scale economic activity might resume after the 20th of April. India has also placed travel restrictions relatively early with many states shutting off access to public places and intercity travels.
For a highly populous country, a stage of unattended community spread would be a disaster on socio-economic and political terms. Only strict adherence to government guidelines can ensure this situation does not escalate further. The lockdown is paying off by slowing down the spread. Compared to other countries that were slow to impose the lockdowns, India has taken an extreme measure to lockdown the entire nation that is helping control the situation.
However, the country’s high population density, overburdened public health, and the possibility of transmission from younger people (50% of the population below the age of 25) to the elderly in joint families are worrying factors. India’s GDP decelerated to the lowest in over 6 years in the 3rd quarter of 2019-20., and the outbreak of COVID-19 has posed a fresh challenge. The Abrupt cease of economic activity will drop the demand for non-essential goods. With further supply chain disruption, even the availability of essential commodities might get affected. (source: KPMG)
According to a study, A peak in new cases is expected in week 3 of June and a potential or actual lift of lockdown between week 4 of June and week 2 of September [source: John Hopkins University (Coronavirus Resource Center), BCG Analysis]
Agriculture, trade, education, and livelihood of daily wage workers are just a few things that have been impacted and/ or come to a standstill. Decisions to tackle the slowdown caused include better wage schemes under MGNREGA, free cooking fuel, increased pension for senior citizens and free medical insurance for medical staff.
Railway services were supposed to resume after lockdown and all tickets had been booked already. Nevertheless Fear of a rapid spread post lockdown is still fogging the minds of people. The lack of certainty with regard to transport and work is also getting exasperating with various ideas on people’s minds at the moment. While many believe India has handled it better than any other country, some fear that the worst is yet to come. When humans are being defeated by the virus, With the help of AI and other technology in medicine, governance, and finance we can certainly overcome these testing times.
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