WHEN NATIONS EASE LOCKDOWNS

We take a look at how different countries have enforced and relaxed lockdown norms at different stages of their outbreak, and how India is an outlier as it is one of the only nations that has started relaxing its lockdown before a ‘flattening’ of the curve. By: Vijdan Mohammad Kawoosa

1 LOCKDOWN EASED AS CASES RISE

Among 17 countries with the highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases, India is the only one to have significantly relaxed its lockdown measures even before the pandemic reaching its peak in terms of daily new cases (taken here as weekly moving average) although there is no doubt that these have delayed the peak and slowed the spread of the disease. This makes India an outlier in terms of its lockdown strategy. Even in terms of imposing the lockdown, India was among the countries which had the strictest lockdown (with a stringency index of 100) and was also quick to lock down – by the time there were 500 cases, India’s stringency Index score was 86.5, more than many countries at that stage. India scored 100 even before there were 700 confirmed cases

2 WITH RISING CURVES, NO EASING OF LOCKDOWN

Like India, countries such as Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Saudi Arabia have not seen the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic yet, which is to say that the number of daily new cases in these countries continues to show a rising trend. But unlike India, the lockdown measures in these countries continue to be at their strictest level, although it was never as strict as in India. To be sure, the strictest lockdown in these countries can be compared to the stringency of the extended lockdown in India as the country eased some of the restrictions such as that on rail and air travel

3 NATIONS WITH PEAKED CASES START RELAXING CURBS

Then there are countries which did not ease lockdowns at least upto the day the number of daily new Covid-19 cases peaked, or eased the lockdown only after the peak. Italy, Turkey, Canada, France, Germany, United States, Spain, United Kingdom and Russia are some examples. These countries did not impose a lockdown as strict as India at the first place, but they managed to not remove whatever restrictions they had largely imposed at least until the Covid-19 pandemic peaked. Then there is Iran, in itself an outlier – the country did not impose a very strict lockdown in the first place, slightly eased out restrictions after the peak but saw the number of daily cases rise again