One year of COVID-19 lockdown: How India dealt with pandemic

Exactly
one year ago today, India announced a nation-wide lockdown in response to a
COVID-19 pandemic which has massively transformed our lives in multiple ways
for good and bad, but mostly bad. India reported its first case of COVID-19 on
January 30 last year and since then we had witnessed a dreary 21-day lockdown,
migrant crisis, dramatic economic slowdown and loopholes in the already ruffled
health infrastructure.

But
that is not all, amid all the blues, we had also seen prestigious global agencies
like World Health Organisation (WHO), Billboards and International Monetary
Fund (IMF) heaping praises for India’s pandemic response and ‘life above
livelihood’ approach. With a year gone by and many still in grip of fear of the
virus, not just because of its fatality but because of the social stigma that
comes with isolation, and prolonged sickness. Here is a look at how India dealt
with COVID-19 pandemic.

Precautionary
measures

The
government of India undoubtedly took proactive measures like advanced
screenings at key spots like airports, prime railway stations and hospitals,
mandatory quarantine for incoming International travellers and suspension of
all visas, except for diplomats and employment, till April 15. And India did so
when various countries like the US, Spain, France among others were downplaying
and denying the presence of the novel coronavirus.

Apart
from this, schools, colleges, malls and gyms cubs, hotels, community halls,
etc. were shut before the lockdown to contain the spread of the virus.

Lockdowns

While
the government calls it a precautionary step and the efficacy and impacts of it
are still disputed, India began locking the country to block the community
spread with a 21-day lockdown from March 23, a day after the dramatic 24-hour
Junta curfew.

Over
the following two months, the country extended the lockdown thrice, before
moving to unlock the economy in phases May onwards.

Medical
initiatives

Soon
after the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, Indian government designated over
72 COVID testing centres across the country. When India’s population posed to
become a greater threat to our COVID combat plan, India converted hotels,
railway coaches and community halls to isolation wardS as per WHO’s estimate of
3 bed per 1000 people.

To
meet the enhanced demand of COVID related equipments, India began indigenous
production of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits, N95 masks. Union
Minister Smriti Irani in May last year announced that India now produces 4.5
lakh PPE kits and 2 lakh N95 masks every day.

Economic
steps

 To deal with the repercussions of the pandemic
on Indian economy and most importantly in a common man’s pocket, the government
announced relief packages worth Rs. 1.7 lakh crores to cater the need of food
and direct cash transfers. The government also set shelter homes across the
country.

In
view of the lockdown, the Central government released Rs 500 to over four crore
Jan Dhan accounts of poor women under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana

The
RBI (Reserve Bank of India) also undertook emergency measures cutting various
interest rates to a record low to increase liquidity in the economy by over Rs.
3.7 lakh crores.

In addition
to that, the apex bank also directed for a 3-month EMI moratorium period from
banks and financial institutions such as Tata Capital, as well as announced
relief measures for taxpayers by deferring the ITR and GST filing dates.

Social
initiatives

COVID-19 being the most dreary crisis of the digital age, however, has seen some of the most beautiful manifestations of humanity when fellow Indians and various organisations came up to help those in suffering. From big-time organisations like Tata, Reliance and Infosys transforming the idea of Corporate Social responsibility to individuals like Sonu Sood and many others came to the rescue of those who were left bereft in the times of need.

Vaccination

With the production of two vaccine out of which one is indigenous, India began the largest COVID-19 vaccination drive on January 18. Already in the second phase of the inoculation process, the country has successfully administered more than 4 crore COVID-19 vaccines by March 20.