COVID-19 in India, Risk and Response in the Early Phase
By Dr Adil Rasheed (in Rohan Gunaratna, Mohd Mizan Aslam ed. book, COVID-19 in South, West, and Southeast Asia, Risk and Response in the Early Phase , Routledge, 272 Pages, Copyright Year 2023) ABSTRACT With a poor social security system and a frail healthcare infrastructure, India has done well to avert the COVID-19 pandemic from spreading in the initial months of the outbreak. Thanks largely to its decisive leadership that enforced a timely nationwide lockdown; India bought valuable time to enhance its resources and upgrade its infrastructure to fight the virus. In spite of this spirited response by the government, healthcare sector and civil society organizations, the country has recently seen a rapid upsurge in the disease and some experts fear it might become the global epicenter of the pandemic in the months ahead. With a major storm still looming on the horizon, the country hopes that new medicines in the market or a possible vaccine in the not-so-distant future would