COVID-19 Notes: August 10

Since I last wrote on the pandemic, India has rocketed up the daily cases charts to be the number one in the world when it comes to reporting new cases. What this means is that, at least on a relative scale, other countries are starting to flatten the curve, while we are keeping up our trajectory.

This, ideally, should not be a matter of debate as the overall numbers have been growing in India for a long while now, but India’s health minister recently contended that we had contained the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

The benefits of redefining key metrics are endless and represent a unique way of fixing any problem. This has been the standout feature of India the past 7-years and, going by that, all problems have already been solved.

A crisis like COVID-19 is not something that cannot be managed in a country. It can be, provided there is the will and direction from the government to rally its people. Sadly, that is one aspect that has been entirely missing, other than for the very obvious symbolic measures we saw earlier in the year.

6-months down, we are still stumbling in the dark. The states are doing the best of what they are able to do, with differing degrees of ability and effectiveness. And all states seem to be only too keen to keep the reported numbers low.

Never mind.