by Supriyo Chaudhuri - Trustee of Bridge India, a progressive public policy think tank based in London.
The world’s fastest and deepest lockdown from 25 March led commentators within the country and outside remark in unison that Narendra Modi once again showed he was a Prime Minister not to shy away from bold decisions. India had only recorded 360 active cases of COVID-19 at that stage, yet India was quicker than others like the UK and US in implementing strict social distancing policies. On the same day on the other side of the world, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro railed against Coronavirus measures being taken in his country.
India’s challenge was always one of scale. Smaller countries like Vietnam, Korea, Germany (at least until the second wave hit) and others have been successful in curtailing the spread of the pandemic. But the threat of a communicable contagion in India spreading as rapidly amongst a high density of population, lack of a s...
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