10
M. Fatewar and Vaishali
1.4 Assessment of COVID-19 in India
The first case of COVID-19 has been recorded in the Kerala state of India on 30
January 2020 [26]. From the first confirmed COVID-19 case in India, it took 58 days
to reach the 1,000 mark (on 29 March 2020). Whereas, India had crossed the cumulative sum of 10,000 COVID-19 cases in just another 16 days (on 14 April 2020).
The confirmed cases figure breached the mark of 1,00,000 (0.1 million) in the next
35 days (20 May 2020). As of 17 July 2020, the total number of COVID-19 cases in
India had crossed the 1 million mark in another 59 days [23]. However, the first death
due to COVID-19 had been reported on 12 March 2020 in India [30]. The Honourable
Prime Minister (PM) of India, Shri Narendra Modi, had announced one-day Janta
Curfew as a precautionary measure to control the spread of COVID-19. After the
successful trial of one-day Janta Curfew, the lockdown was extended till 14 April
2020 under Phase-1. The citizens were informed about the do’s and don’ts while
stepping out from the premises. Social distancing was suggested by the Government
of India (GoI) to slow down the rate of disease transmission. The exponential increase
in the number of COVID-19 cases had led the further extension of lockdown under
Phase-2 (15 April to 3 May 2020), Phase 3 (4 May to 17 May 2020), and Phase 4
(18 May to 31 May 2020). For the purpose of controlling the spread of SARS-CoV-2
virus, GoI had divided the districts into three major zones based on the number of
COVID-19 cases, i.e. (i) Red Zone: areas with high number of cases besides doubling
rate of less than 4 days; (ii) Orange Zone: areas with few cases and no increase in
new cases; (iii) Green Zone: areas with no case. The list of restricted and permissible
activities had also been issued by the GoI for all the three aforesaid zones. Finally,
GoI had proposed some relaxation and implemented Unlock-1 (1 June to 30 June
2020) followed by Unlock-2 (1 July to 31 July 2020) with a complete shut down of
educational and recreational space [21] (Fig. 1.6).
Fig. 1.6 COVID-19: Chronology of changes in India, 2020 Source Authors, data from [21, 23,
26]
M. Fatewar and Vaishali
1.4 Assessment of COVID-19 in India
The first case of COVID-19 has been recorded in the Kerala state of India on 30
January 2020 [26]. From the first confirmed COVID-19 case in India, it took 58 days
to reach the 1,000 mark (on 29 March 2020). Whereas, India had crossed the cumulative sum of 10,000 COVID-19 cases in just another 16 days (on 14 April 2020).
The confirmed cases figure breached the mark of 1,00,000 (0.1 million) in the next
35 days (20 May 2020). As of 17 July 2020, the total number of COVID-19 cases in
India had crossed the 1 million mark in another 59 days [23]. However, the first death
due to COVID-19 had been reported on 12 March 2020 in India [30]. The Honourable
Prime Minister (PM) of India, Shri Narendra Modi, had announced one-day Janta
Curfew as a precautionary measure to control the spread of COVID-19. After the
successful trial of one-day Janta Curfew, the lockdown was extended till 14 April
2020 under Phase-1. The citizens were informed about the do’s and don’ts while
stepping out from the premises. Social distancing was suggested by the Government
of India (GoI) to slow down the rate of disease transmission. The exponential increase
in the number of COVID-19 cases had led the further extension of lockdown under
Phase-2 (15 April to 3 May 2020), Phase 3 (4 May to 17 May 2020), and Phase 4
(18 May to 31 May 2020). For the purpose of controlling the spread of SARS-CoV-2
virus, GoI had divided the districts into three major zones based on the number of
COVID-19 cases, i.e. (i) Red Zone: areas with high number of cases besides doubling
rate of less than 4 days; (ii) Orange Zone: areas with few cases and no increase in
new cases; (iii) Green Zone: areas with no case. The list of restricted and permissible
activities had also been issued by the GoI for all the three aforesaid zones. Finally,
GoI had proposed some relaxation and implemented Unlock-1 (1 June to 30 June
2020) followed by Unlock-2 (1 July to 31 July 2020) with a complete shut down of
educational and recreational space [21] (Fig. 1.6).
Fig. 1.6 COVID-19: Chronology of changes in India, 2020 Source Authors, data from [21, 23,
26]