India's Fight Against COVID-19 - The Success Story

-- Jamsheeda Jainudeen, 5, FAIPS-DPS, Ahmadi

Monday, January 9, 2023

Happy, that we are here today, which turned out to be a great fortune, though we lost many of our beloved ones in this pandemic battle.

Actually, India was not among the first countries hit by COVID-19. The first case was on 30th January 2020, a student evacuated from Wuhan and the first death was reported on 12th March 2020. So India had its secondary transmission reported only in early March.

Though the case counts were low, India was predicted to be at high risk for COVID-19 cases. The Indian population has high rates of uncontrolled hypertension and diabetes, both of which have been shown to be risk factors for severe COVID -19 and mortality.
.
To control this, the Indian Government did temperature screening of incoming passengers on flights from East Asia. Large public events were postponed. On March 24, a national lockdown was announced. The sudden lockdown imposed a significant burden on those, who found themselves both out of work and with no means to return to their villages. The lockdown represented a solution for which India was poorly equipped from public health standpoint. The lockdown was essential to prepare for the upcoming flood of cases.

It was predicted that a national lockdown could reduce the number of infections at the peak of pandemics. The national lockdown was tightly enforced. By late June, the lockdown had been lifted in stages and had transitioned to state-level lockdown.

On 3rd January 2021, India issued an emergency approval for 2 vaccines (COVISHIELD and COVAXIN). On 16th January 2021, India launched the world's largest COVID-19 vaccination drive. By the end of 2021 about a billion people were vaccinated.

And by these steps, India almost controlled the spread of virus, though many mutations did grow amidst the battle stage. Let's all pray for our beloved one's and stay safe now and the years to come.

Jai Hind!!!

Jamsheeda Jainudeen, Class-5, FAIPS-DPS, Ahmadi