How India Handled Covid-19 Prior To The Vaccination Program-By Harsha Sankar(December 2020)

India, a nation in which I am currently a guest, has been quite effective in dealing with Covid-19. Still, less than 1% of its population have reported having it 10 months after it was hit with it.

India did a very stringent 10 week lockdown. They knew it could not be prolonged for a longer period than that because at that point, the "cat was out of the bag". The virus had already spread to the general population. Locking down made no sense at that point.

They gradually opened up the economy as each state and local government took key decisions. They focused, after that lockdown, on treatment instead of prevention and cure. Most places in India are now not mandating mask wearing as well. Indian authorities are not pushing vaccines on the general public. They just want the elderly and front line healthcare workers to take it.

What they did and still are doing to prevent a massive spread was to distribute medicines to the prone areas. They first did Hydroxy(HCQ) but that was a little too strong for many people, especially as a preventive measure. They then switched to Ivermectin and that has helped immensely. India's recovery rate has been very high as their death rate is still very low. They knew people would get sick but their job was to treat the sickness, in contrast with preventing the sickness from happening.

When an individual tested positive, he or she provided a list of their contacts so that they could be given Ivermectin to take as a preventive measure. There was no mass quarantining so those individuals did not mind providing such information.

In India, it is impossible to prevent mass gatherings if it is for religious purposes. No government will ever be powerful enough to stop that. So what the authorities did was test people on site. Those who were positive could not attend. Those who tested negative could attend. All were given Ivermectin as the positive tested people were told to seek medical help on their own accord.

Rates have come down drastically since its peak in September in India because of these prudent measures. The death totals have only been augmented by 2% due to Covid-19. Herd immunity was the ultimate objective as close to a billion people have been infected. This is the main reason why rates have dissipated.