CORONAVIRUS - COVID 19
The first case of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic in India was reported on 30 January 2020, originating from China. As of 29 April 2020, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare have confirmed a total of 31,332 cases, 7,696 recoveries (including 1 migration) and 1007 deaths in the country.[5] Experts suggest the number of infections could be much higher as India's testing rates are among the lowest in the world.[8] The infection rate of COVID-19 in India is reported to be 1.7, significantly lower than in the worst affected countries.[9]
The outbreak has been declared an epidemic in more than a dozen states and union territories, where provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 have been invoked, and educational institutions and many commercial establishments have been shut down. India has suspended all tourist visas, as a majority of the confirmed cases were linked to other countries.[10]
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 where COVID cases had occurred as well as all major cities.[11][12] Further, on 24 March, the prime minister ordered a nationwide lockdown for 21 days, affecting the entire 1.3 billion population of India.[13][14] On 14 April, the prime minister extended the ongoing nationwide lockdown till 3 May.[15]
Michael Ryan, chief executive director of the World Health Organisation's health emergencies programme, said that India had "tremendous capacity" to deal with the coronavirus outbreak and, as the second most populous country, will have enormous impact on the world's ability to deal with it.[16] Other commentators worried about the economic devastation caused by the lockdown, which has huge effects on informal workers, micro and small enterprises, farmers and the self-employed, who are left with no livelihood in the absence of transportation and access to markets.[17][18]
Observers state that the lockdown has slowed the growth rate of the pandemic by 6 April to a rate of doubling every 6 days,[19] and, by 18 April, to a rate of doubling every 8 days.[20]
The Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT), in its report based on data from 73 countries, reports 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[21][22]
TIMELINE
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.[28][29] No significant rise in cases was seen in the rest of February. On 4 March 22 new cases came to light, including those of an Italian tourist group with 14 infected members.[30]
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 12 March, a 76-year-old man who had returned from Saudi Arabia became the first victim of the virus in the country.[31]
Confirmed cases crossed 100 on 15 March,[32] 1,000 on 28 March,[33] 5,000 on 7 April,[34] 10,000 on 14 April,[35] 20,000 on 22 April[36] and 30,000 on 29 April.[37] The death toll crossed 50 on 1 April,[38] 100 on 5 April,[39] 500 on 19 April[40] and 1,000 on 29 April.[41]
A Sikh preacher that returned from travel to Italy and Germany, carrying the virus, turned into "super spreader" by attending a Sikh festival in Anandpur Sahib during 10–12 March.[42][43] Twenty-seven COVID-19 cases were traced back to him.[44] Over 40,000 people in 20 villages in Punjab were quarantined on 27 March to contain the spread.[43][45]
On 31 March, a Tablighi Jamaat religious congregation event that took place in Delhi in early March emerged as a new virus hotspot after numerous cases across the country were traced back to the event.[46] Over 9,000 missionaries may have attended the congregation, with the majority being from various states of India,[47][48] and 960 attendees from 40 foreign countries.[49] According to Ministry of Health and Family welfare, 4,291 out of 14,378 confirmed cases were linked to this event in 23 Indian states and union territories till 18 April.[50]
On 6 April 2020, in Mumbai's Wockhardt Hospital, 26 nurses and 3 doctors were found to have been infected with the virus. The hospital was temporarily shut down and declared a containment zone. Negligence of the hospital administration has been blamed for the infections.[51]
SITUATION
Tablighi Jamaat event
The Tablighi Jamaat wanted to arrange the program somewhere in Vasai, Maharashtra. After the outbreak of COVID-19 in Maharashtra, the Government of Maharashtra and Mumbai Police called off the meeting. After the rejection from the Government of Maharashtra, the Nizamuddin faction of the Tablighi Jamaat held the religious congregational program (Ijtema) in Nizamuddin West, Delhi.[400][401][402] The Delhi Government's order of 13 March that no seminars, conferences or any big event (beyond 200 people) are to be held was apparently ignored by the organisation, and the Delhi Police also failed to enforce it.[403][404] There were also other violation of rules by foreign speakers including misuse of tourist visa for missionary activities and not taking 14-day home quarantine for travellers from abroad.[405]
At least 24 of the attendees had tested positive for the virus among the 300 who showed symptoms by 31 March 2020.[406] It is believed that the sources of infection were preachers from Indonesia.[407] Many had returned to their states and also provided refuge to foreign speakers without the knowledge of local governments.[408] and eventually started local transmissions especially in Tamil Nadu, Telengana, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir and Assam. The entire Nizamuddin West area has been cordoned off by the Police as of 30 March, and medical camps have been set up.[409] After evacuation from the markaz, of the scores of jamaat attendees, 167 of them were quarantined in a railway facility in south east Delhi amid concerns over their safety and transmission of the virus. The Tablighi Jamaat gathering emerged as one of India's major coronavirus hotspots in India,[410] after 1445 out of 4067 cases were linked to attendees according to the Health Ministry.[411][412] On 18 April 2020, Central Government said that 4,291 cases (or 29.8% Of the total 14,378 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in India) were linked to the Tablighi Jamaat, and these cases were spread across 23 states and Union Territories.[413]
Questions have been raised as to how the Delhi Police allowed this event to proceed in the midst of a pandemic,[414] while a similar event was prohibited in Mumbai by the Maharashtra Police.[415] Once the COVID lockdown came into effect in Delhi from 22 March onwards, the missionaries remaining in the Nizamuddin Markaz were trapped, and the functionaries began to seek assistance from the authorities for their evacuation.[416] As of 4 April, more than 1000 cases, representing 30% all confimed cases in India, were linked to the Nizamuddin event. Some 22,000 people that came in contact with the Tablighi Jamaat missionaries had to be quarantined.[417] On 31 March 2020, an FIR was filed against Muhammad Saad Kandhlawi and others by Delhi Police Crime Branch under Section 3 (penalty for offence) of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and Sections 269 (Negligent act likely to spread infection of disease), 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease), 271 (disobedience to quarantine rule) and 120b (punishment of criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.[418][419][420] On 8 April 2020, the Delhi Police traced Tablighi Jamaat leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi in Zakirnagar in South-East Delhi, where he claimed to be under self-quarantine.[421] Many other members of the missionary group have also been booked for allegedly helping spread the disease, including by hiding in mosques, a police official claimed. However, the Government of India has denied that it is singling out Muslims.[422]
Panic buying
Hyderabad witnessed panic buying throughout 20 and 21 March.[423] Panic buying of milk and other dairy products was also reported.[424][425] Online grocery delivery service Grofers also witnessed panic buying across states.[426]
Retailers and consumer goods firms saw their average daily sales more than double on 19 March as consumers rushed to buy essentials ahead of PM Modi’s address to the nation.[427] In response to this, Modi assured the citizens that there was enough food and ration supplies and advised them against panic buying.[428]
Escaping of suspected people
Several cases are reported across the country, where people who are suspected to have come in contact with the virus, escaped from the quarantines and hospitals.[429][430]
In Chhattisgarh, a 35 yr-old man from Tagapani, Dhamtari, who was put under isolation home by the health dept after his return from Tamil Nadu, committed suicide.[431]
In Gujarat, 93 people have broken self-isolation rules in 10 days. FIRs have been filed against 10.[432]
Two expats in Kasaragod district, Kerala, who violated quarantine measures were subjected to punitive measures, including cancellation of their Indian passports.[433]
On 20 March, A case of 26-year-old woman suspected of being infected with the corona virus has been reported to have fled the hospital in Punjab. The woman, who hails from Mohali, recently returned from the US and was brought to a government hospital in Chandigarh.[434]
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