India Lockdown Is The Harshest The World Has Ever Seen, Even Surpass Those Of China And Italy

The lengthy 21-day lockdown currently running in India aims at containing the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. Along with the order that partly locks people in their houses, PM Modi also cut off the most convenient means of transport that links one state to another, the inter-state bus service and Indian Railways.

Migrant workers who cannot find work in the cities and have no money left to sustain their lives there have only one choice left – get home, on foot, which has caused deaths, starvation, and chaos.

India has imposed some heavy-handed measures to minimize human contact, which can help the virus to spread further. At this point, absolutely nothing is running, from bus to domestic flights.

While the intention behind the lockdown is noble, its side effects are severe. Reports of several cases when the police assault people on the streets while all these people want is to buy some grocery surfaces all over the Internet.

As of March 28, India had 19 deaths despite having no infected case of contracting the virus without coming in contact with someone who has it or someone came back from a region with an outbreak, making it the first country in the world to order such a strict lockdown without community transmission.

China

The first country in the world to impose a complete lockdown is China, the former epicenter of this pandemic. Soon after locking down Wuhan, where the outbreak originates, the Chinese government enforced the same order in most other parts of the country.

This move has been praised by WHO as one of history’s most agile and aggressive containment efforts.

However, China’s attempt is no match for that of India. According to The New York Times, the East Asia country’s lockdown has restricted around 760 million people, over half of the nations’ population.

As large as that number might seem, it is no match for the 1.3 billion Indians now in lockdown all over the country.

India’s order is not only more widespread but also more aggressive. While China has a handful of levels of lockdown, India only orders one single policy for the whole country.

According to Alok Gupta, an Indian in Beijing, buses were still allowed to run in China’s capital city. After the first week of lockdown, cabs were let operating with a plastic sheet dividing the driver and the passengers. Flights and trains are forbidden in certain provinces, not all.

Italy

When China started to see the situation improving, Italy came down a new low with the pandemic. In an attempt to mirror what China did and succeeded, the European nation also imposed a lockdown.

However, no matter how bad the situation is in Italy, that order is still no match for its equivalent policy in India. For one, Italy’s lockdown happens in stages. On February 21, only the northern part of the nation with around 50,000 people was ordered to stay inside. It was not until March 9 that the order is extended to other parts of the country.

As stated by Neelini Sarkar, an Indian living in Milan, the Italian government did not order a shutdown of public transport. To control the outbreak, Italy comes up with a pass system that allows flights or bus rides depending on individual needs. The order is grounded on the fact that on March 28, the European country has 9,134 deaths from COVID-19, in comparison with India’s 19.

South Asia

Ramanan Laxminarayan of the department of global health at the University of Washington and some other experts argue that India commits such a drastic measure because it is well aware that its healthcare system is weak an cannot rival those of China or Italy.

However, India’s lockdown order is still more aggressive than those of its neighboring countries like Bangladesh or Sri Lanka, which have roughly the same level of healthcare development.

On March 25, PM Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh urged citizens to stay at home and announced a “holiday” lasting for 10 days, during which no other industries are allowed to operate, except for essentials.

Bangladesh’s attempt is similar to that of India in intensity but it still allows migrant workers to go back.

Five days before the planned closure of all transport services, the government made a nationwide announcement to urge migrant workers to go back. It also allowed two more days before officially shutting down everything, from buses to ferries, to trains. So in short, the Bangladesh government gave migrant workers a 7-day window to go back home.

The Bangladesh government also avoid using the word lockdown, instead, it said this is a holiday otherwise the citizens might be frightened.

In Sri Lanka, there is a harsh lockdown but migrant workers are notified beforehand and the government arranges special buses and trains to ferry them home.

This notice and Sri Lanka’s small size, with a population just a little more than that of Mumbai, has ensured that the tragedy of migrant workers walking home and starved on the way did not happen.

Pakistan is the country with the least severe lockdown in South Asia. PM Imran Khan did not approve of a total lockdown arguing that the move would have a devastating effect on a poor country like Pakistan. Besides, the country’s situation is not as desperate as in Italy or China.

So far, the country has reported 12 deaths from COVID-19.

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