Every day for nearly three weeks, roughly 50,000 to 60,000 new cases of Covid-19 have occurred around the world, of which about 1,500 cases...
Every day for nearly three weeks, roughly 50,000 to 60,000 new cases of Covid-19 have occurred around the world, of which about 1,500 cases have been reported in India. Historically, pandemics were underpinned by poverty, inequality and discord. Not so with Covid-19, which was carried by jet-setters in their respiratory tracts.
Given the rapid spread and devastating effect of the infection, the world experimented with a combination of strategies: social distancing, lockdowns (complete, partial, only in hotspots), testing (voluntary, compulsory, focussing on risk groups) and cocktails of different prophylactic measures.
At the same time, scientists and advisors have sometimes pushed unproven prevention methods and therapeutic strategies, while modellers have used permutations of assumptions to inform policymakers and the public of the shape of things to come. The intention of these strategies was to stop or slow the epidemic, reduce the pressure on health workers and tertiary care systems, and plan for unprecedented contingencies.
Indian response
In the face of the coronavirus crisis, the government of India and state governments resorted to a standard practice – that of setting up committees. Though some states labelled these as taskforces, empowered groups, coordination teams and war rooms, most function like committees. With its origins in British-style decision-making, the framework of such...
