Key steps taken by our central and state government

On 30 January, India reported its first case of COVID-19 in Kerala, which rose to three cases by 3 February; all were students who had returned from Wuhan, China. There was no significant rise in cases in the rest of February. The transmission escalated during March, after several cases were reported all over the country, most of which were linked to people with a travel history to affected countries.  On 22 March 2020, India observed a 14-hour voluntary public curfew at the instance of the prime minister Narendra Modi. The government followed it up with lockdowns in 75 districts as well as all major cities. But On 24 March, the prime minister ordered a nationwide lockdown for 21 days followed by extension of  another nationwide lockdown on 14 April which lasted till 3 May. The World Health Organization also hailed "India's tough and timely actions" against the coronavirus spread. WHO’s South East-Asia Regional Director, Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh said, “ Despite huge and multiple challenges, India has been demonstrating unwavering commitment in its fight against the pandemic” By 27 April the states of Goa, Sikkim, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura have been declared as "Covid-19 Free" with zero active cases. The reason for these states to be declared as corona free was the result of prompt lockdown. On 1 May, the Government of India extended nationwide lockdown further by two weeks until 17 May. The Government divided the entire nation into three zones – Green Zone, Red Zone, Orange Zone, relaxation were allowed accordingly.  On 5 May, Telangana government announced for extension of lockdown till 29 May in the state. Earlier the state government gave orders for the complete shutdown of educational institutions, coaching centres, malls, cinema halls, bars, pubs, clubs, public meetings, place of worship, seminars and rallies. The state government also cancelled festival celebrations like Ugadi and Sri Rama Navami besides an Islamic event. Confirmed cases crossed 100 on 15 March, 1,000 on 28 March, 5,000 on 7 April, 10,000 on 14 April, 20,000 on 22 April , 30,000 on 29 April and 50,000 by 6 May.  The Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT), in its report based on data from 73 countries, reported that the Indian Government has responded more stringently than other countries in tackling the pandemic. It noted the government's swift action, emergency policy making emergency investment in healthcare, fiscal measures, investment in vaccine research and active response to the situation, and scored India with a "100" for its strictness. Coming to the total number of cases, death and recovered cases that are taken through online sources and presented in a tabular form says it all.  The central government introduced the Aarogya Setu mobile application to educate citizens about novel coronavirus and help them make informed decisions amid the crisis. Nearly 20 crore women Jan Dhan account holders received Rs 500 each in their account. Under Ujjawala scheme, the government is providing free LPG refills for the next three months to over 8.3 crore poor women. A small gesture to show gratitude to the front line health workers, police department and sanitizing team by clapping , lightening diyas and showering flowers. India finished conducting 1 million RT-PCR tests this weekend according to ICMR, joining a club of only 10 countries in the world to have crossed that milestone. Out of all these countries, India has the least number of reported cases testing its one millionth sample. Officials also stated that starting with one single laboratory, the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune to having 100 laboratories in the beginning of the lockdown, the RT-PCR test facility is now available in 292 government and 97 private facilities across the country which is to be acknowledged. From the total of 736 districts in India ,only 17 % are in the red zone, i.e., have a high number of active transmissions in last 21 days. There are 38 % in the orange zone, which means cases have been reported but there hasn’t been a considerable increase, and 43 %  are in the green zone, area with no new cases in last 21 days. The doubling rate in India has slowed down i.e. the time in which current number of cases double ⁠,has increased from 3.4 days from before lockdown to 12 days now, which means the infection is spreading more slowly.