If there is a Covid-19 surge, can a lockdown be far behind? As a fresh wave of the coronavirus sweeps through North and West India again, s...
If there is a Covid-19 surge, can a lockdown be far behind? As a fresh wave of the coronavirus sweeps through North and West India again, speculation is rife that some states will once again go back to the blunt-force tool that people across the world have to come to associate with the virus: lockdowns.
After all, much of Europe is under lockdown for a second time after the autumn brought along huge Covid-19 spikes in several countries. In spring, India had followed suit and imposed its own national lockdown, albeit with much stricter restrictions than most European nations.
The Delhi government has shot down the possibility of a fresh lockdown, despite cases spiking and rumours in the city markets. But Maharashtra has kept the door open. A decision, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said, would be taken shortly. Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, on the other hand, have already clamped down with night curfews and weekend lockdowns.
Lockdowns seem to back in the Indian administrators’ Covid-19 armoury.
A contentious precedent
This was not entirely expected. India’s spring lockdown was hugely contentious. While the government insists the measure curbed the spread of the virus and kept deaths low, critics say that it did little more than delivering a body blow to India’s already-faltering economy.
Consider this: when India...
