How India Overcame Covid-19
Learn how India, a developing nation with less resources, wealth, doctors, and hospitals and a very large population handled this dangerous disease.
In 2019, the Corona virus disease spread after getting released out of a lab in the city of Wuhan in China. It quickly spread to other countries, including India, and killed millions of people. But, through safety precautions and measures, India overcame COVID-19. Let’s learn how India overcame this viral disease.
The first case happened in Kerala, when the disease was found in three Indian medical students who had returned from Wuhan. Soon, the virus spread to other parts of the country. The first COVID death was of a 76-year old in Karnataka.
In the first phase, India imposed policies like social distancing and lockdown in the country. People were required to wear masks and could not go outside unless it was necessary. Those who didn’t wear masks were fined. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare imposed policies such as travel advisory restrictions and self-quarantine for international travellers entering India. A rapid response team was established, trained manpower was increased, and isolation and quarantine wards were made. RTPCR test kits were circulated, COVID patients were quarantined, and use of sanitizers was promoted. The Indian govt. launched the Vande Bharat Mission to evacuate Indians stuck in foreign countries. Also, public gatherings were banned to control the spread. India’s handling of the pandemic in 2020 won praise and was a pleasant surprise to many who worried about the weak state of India’s health infrastructure and its huge population, which seemed to be a perfect recipe for disaster.
But, in 2021, the second phase hit India. The situation got worse, with lots of COVID cases. There were less hospitals and oxygen cylinders for too many people with COVID. Even basic needs like RTPCR test kits and sanitizers weren’t available. There was acute shortage of medical staff and many people were turned down. Daily there were heaps of dead bodies for cremation. Mortality rates rose to 5.3 lakh deaths.
During this time, vaccines like Covaxin and Covishield were made in India. These vaccines were exported to other countries also.
Initially, people aged 45 and above had to be vaccinated, but later on, vaccination was also for people aged 18 and above.
The COVID-19 caused problems for the Indian economy. Due to lockdown, many people lost their jobs, causing unemployment. Many businesses like hotels and airlines cut salaries and costs and had to remove employees from their jobs. Also, economic activity halted, which in turn, created an economic slowdown. About 5, 31,547 Indians died due to the disease. Many people, like migrant labourers, became homeless. Factories were shut down, and the people who worked there went home.
The developed countries like US, UK, Germany and others have a lot of resources, wealth, and medical facilities like hospitals, advanced technology, and less people. They are technologically advanced and have many doctors, yet, their percentage of COVID deaths is high, as you can see in the data. India, on the other hand, being a developing country, has less resources, wealth, medical facilities, and a huge population. Also, in terms of technology, India is not very advanced. There were fewer doctors in India, even for an online appointment during the pandemic. There were less diagnostics labs for diagnosing COVID patients. Still, the percentage of COVID deaths in our country is very low: 1%. Hence we can proudly say that India has fared well to fight this global pandemic even with limited resources.
Learning for India is to develop its medical infrastructure to deal with such situations in future. At present, Indian govt. allocates only 1% of its GDP on public health. We need to prioritize medical facilities above other things.
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