1 year since lockdown: From world's strictest lockdown to 2nd wave, India's COVID journey

As India stares at a second wave of Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, one year has passed since Prime Minister Modi announced a 21-day total lockdown across India to curb the spread of the virus. Explaining the fallout for not handling the next three weeks as catastrophic, he had said that 'India will be set back by 21 years, if 21 days are not handled'. While India moved from 'total lockdown' to 'partial lockdown' to the current 'Unlock' phase, India which had reported 519 cases on 25 March 2020, now has 1,17,87,534 cases of which 3,95,192 are active.

Here's a timeline of India's COVID journey:

• March 24, 2020: PM Modi addresses the nation announcing a 21-day lockdown throughout India starting at midnight. "From midnight 12, across the country, there will be countrywide lockdown in India. There will be complete restriction of leaving out from the residence.  All districts, village will be locked down. This is curfew only -a stricter curfew than janta curfew. We have to bear economic consequences because of this. But to save every Indian's life at this time is my and the government's responsibility," said PM Modi, invoking Disaster Management Act (2005)

India had already suspended all visas and barred travel from Afghanistan, Philippines, EU, UK, China, Malaysia and mandatory 14-day quarantine from several other countries and shut down over 32 states and Union territories. It had also closed the India-Pakistan border and restricted passenger movement at the border with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and Myanmar and all domestic airplanes and trains had ceased operation. The government was monitoring all suspected cases and issued preventive advisories with states declaring the disease an epidemic shutting down all educational institutions, monuments, parks, gyms, swimming pools, pubs and banning large gatherings.

• March 25 - March 30: As lockdown kicks in, all offices barring those providing essential services were shut. With roads deserted, India came to a standstill as all commercial establishments and private organizations remained shut and all transport and hospitality services stalled. The exemptions to these included print and electronic media, shops selling essential items, e-delivery of food, medical equipment, banks, petrol pumps etc. With essential workers like police officials, civic health officials, doctors, nurses, sanitation workers stepping out to ensure total lockdown, India witnessed the world's largest and strictest lockdown.

With shops, factories shut and jobs drying up, migrant labourers begin to walk back to their native homes in thousands, as transport remained stalled. On March 28, thousands of migrant workers were seen thronging the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border at Delhi's Anand Vihar Interstate Bus Terminal in the hope of reaching their homes, defying lockdown and creating a health hazard. The Centre came under massive fire as visuals of several migrant labourers walking back on foot, thousands of kilometres were captured by the media.

Adding to India's COVID worries, a religious programme organised at Tablighi Jamaat's headquarters Markaz Nizamuddin mosque in Delhi between 13-15 March had over 3400 attendees from Malaysia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Kyrgyzstan and from several states in India. After attending the meeting, prior to the nationwide lockdown, 1500 of these attendees returned to several parts of the country, possibly spreading the COVID-19 virus - marking a super-spreader event. Most attendees were traced, tested, isolated and treated by various state governments. While several attendees were jailed for flouting lockdown, most have been acquitted by lower courts, while Tablighi Jamaat chief Maulana Saad was booked by Delhi police.

• April 2020: On April 5, one week after total lockdown, PM Modi urged citizens to light diyas, candles, torches and flashlights to show solidarity with frontline workers as India's death toll crossed 100-mark. 

As India crossed 1000 deaths, on April 14, PM Modi extends the 21-day lockdown to May 3, which was later extended to May 16. Immediately, around 2,000 migrant workers gathered at Bandra station, under the illusion of boarding 'Jansdharan Express' trains to UP, Bengal and Bihar. Migrants also continued walking across state borders to reach their native homes due to loss of income amid lockdown.

• May 1-12: As migrants continue to trudge across states on foot, MHA on May 1, allowed the movement of stranded migrants, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons across India via special trains called 'Shramik trains' operated by the Ministry of Railways. 85% of the fare cost was borne by Centre while 15% were borne by state governments. Railways ferried 63.15 lakh migrant workers across 23 states in over 4,000 Shramik Special trains from May 1 to August 30, 2020 suffering a Rs 38,017 crore loss in FY 2020-21.

On May 7, the Centre launched the Vande Bharat mission to bring back Indians stranded abroad amid lobal lockdown via aircraft and naval ships in a phased manner. As of March 22, 2021, around 52 lakhs stranded Indians from 137 countries Indians have returned to India from abroad via Vande Bharat, informed Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan to Lok Sabha. While international air travel has not resumed completely, India has formed several 'bubbles' with partner countries to facilitate air travel.

• May 13-May 17: With partial lockdown being lifted,  PM Modi announced a Rs 20 lakh crore economic package - including the previous monetary package and the liquidity measures announced by RBI till date (amounting to 10.26 lakh crore) to kickstart Indian economy's growth as India emerged from total lockdown. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a slew of reforms in five parts to strengthen MSMEs, migrants, street vendors, urban poor, agriculture, animal husbandry, sectors like - Coal, defence production, minerals, civil aviation (Airports, Airspace Mgmt & MRO), power distribution in UTs, Space, atomic energy. While the industry hailed the government's economic package, the Opposition slammed it calling a 'farce'. 

MHA extended lockdown till May 30 bit allowed inter-state movement of passenger vehicles with mutual consent of states, as India took over China in number of COVID-19 cases reporting nearly 86,000 cases.

• May 18- May 31: Domestic flight services resume in a calibrated manner with only 30% capacity and fares too remain capped as India crosses 1 lakh cases. 

• June 2020: With Unlock-1 kicking in, MHA allowed a phase-wise reopening of India outside containment zones in three phases. From June 8, religious places, hotels, restaurants, shopping malls were allowed to reopen adhering to SOPs. While MHA allowed schools, colleges and other educational institutions to reopen from July 2020, most states have kept schools shut till date, while allowing phase-wise opening of higher educational institutions, as COVID subsided.

• July 2020: With Unlock-2 kicking in, more relaxations followed, with night curfew timings getting extended 10 PM to 5 AM and more trains and flights began. Inter and Intra-state travel including those for cross-border trade continued, while passenger trains, Shramik special trains, domestic passenger air travel covered. India's active cases stood at 2,10,120, recovered cases at 3,21,723 with 16,475 fatalities.

While the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine trials continued in UK, India’s first indigenous Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin, began its first trials across the nation by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the National Institute of Virology (NIV) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)

• August 2020: Unlock-3 kicked in with govt allowing gymnasiums and yoga centres to reopen and night curfew was lifted. As India ramped up its testing it clocked 3.45 crore tests, overtaking Russia and falling behind China, US. Meanwhile, Serum Institue of India (SII) starts India trials of Covishield across India.

Marking its worst contraction in history, India's GDP growth for the first quarter of FY 21 stood at -23.9% as per data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on August 31. This contraction came after the overall FY 19-20 GDP growth stood at 4.2%, hitting an 11-year low. As per market reports, core sectors' growth stood at: Industries at -381%, Services at -20.6%, Manufacturing at -39.3 %, Trade, Hotels at -47%. Agriculture has been the only sector to see growth clocking a 3.4% increase, due to rural sector remaining mostly free from lockdown. Subsequently, in the second quarter of FY 21, India's GDP contracted at -7.5% - plunging the nation into recession with two successive quarters of contraction.

• September 2020: Unlock 4 kicks in with metro services resume in a phased manner across India. COVID-19 continues to spread and peak in India as daily cases touch almost a lakh, with Parliament holding its first session amid COVID-19, after being suspended in March.

The 10-day monsoon session from September 14 to September 23 saw 20 bills introduced, of which  17 were passed - 12 in Lok Sabha and five in Rajya Sabha. The key bills include the three farm Bills, three Labour codes, Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, Taxation and Other Laws, Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill. While it was scheduled to last till October 1 (18 sittings in total), it was cut short after over 30 parliamentarians were infected with the virus.

Towards the end of September, India's COVID tally rose to 60 lakhs, while total recoveries crossed 50 lakhs. A third COVID-19 vaccine Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 signs an agreement with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories for manufacturing and clinical trials. 

• October 2020: Unlock 5 is announced with cinemas and multiplexes allowed to reopen with 50% capacity while states are empowered to decide to open schools, removes limits on outdoor gatherings and allowing indoors gatherings with 50% capacity.

ICMR released the nationwide serosurvey revealing that One in 15 individuals aged 10 years and above were estimated to be exposed to SARS-CoV2 by August 2020, showing that a considerable population is still susceptible to COVID-19. Urban slums (15.6 per cent) and non-slum (8.2 per cent) areas had higher SARS-COV2 infection prevalence than that in rural areas (4.4 per cent), he said quoting the second sero-survey. The second sero-survey was conducted in the same 700 villages and wards from 70 districts from 21 states which were covered during the first survey. The first sero-survey of May 2020 revealed that the nationwide prevalence of novel coronavirus infection was only 0.73 per cent.

• Nov-Dec 2020: India's COVID-19 cases continue to rise as do recoveries, with India crossing 1 crore cases. As clinical phase-2 trials complete and phase-3 clinical trials get underway, both COVAXIN and COVISHIELD apply for emergency use authorisation to the DCGI in December. As COVID-19 cases continued, India also witnessed a massive farmers' protest in Delhi's borders - Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur, demanding total repeal of the Centre's Farm Laws.

• January 2021: As Centre prepares for vaccination, the Centre conducts first nationwide dry run for all states and Union Territories. On January 3, Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) announced that the vaccines of Serum Institue of India (Covishield) and Bharat Biotech (Covaxin) have been granted permission for restricted use in an emergency situation. Covishield - a Recombinant Chimpanzee Adenovirus vector vaccine - has an efficacy of 70.42%, with interim safety and immunogenicity data of Phase-II/III trials submitted to the SEC. Covaxin - a Whole Virion Inactivated Corona Virus Vaccine - 22,500 participants vaccinated in Phase-III trials and was found to be safe as per the data available till date. COVAXIN was given a different approval i.e 'clinical trial mode' - where all COVAXIN recipients will be tracked,monitored as if they’re in trial.

On 16 January, Manish Kumar, a sanitation worker in Delhi, became the first person to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in India after PM Modi flagged off the nationwide vaccination drive in the presence of Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan at AIIMS Delhi. PM Modi launched the nationwide vaccine drive via videoconferencing and congratulated the people of India on getting two 'Made in India' vaccines. With a limit of 100 beneficiaries per centre, vaccination drive commenced in 3351 locations, aiming to inoculate 3 lakh health workers in the 'world's biggest vaccine programme'. The government had already purchased 1.1 crore COVISHIELD vaccine doses and 55 lakh COVAXIN vaccine shots - aiming to vaccinate 3 crore frontline warriors, in the first phase - free of cost.

Being the pharmacy of the world and the biggest vaccine manufacturer, India began its 'Vaccine Maitri' programme delivering around 45.6 million doses of COVISHIELD and COVAXIN to 45 countries. Of the 45.6 million doses, 38.47 million doses were commercial supplies and 7.12 million doses were 'gifted' to other countries. The countries include Bangladesh, Nepal, Morocco, Brazil, Bhutan, Canada, Myanmar etc, with all countries, lauding the Centre's gesture.

• February 2021: Within 34 days of kicking off phase-1 vaccination,  India completed one crore vaccinations on February 19 becoming the second-fastest in the world after the United States. As COVID-19 cases subside in India, two new strains from UK and South Africa are found in India with over 700 people infected till date.

• March 2021: India kicked off its second phase on March 1, with PM Modi taking the first shot. The second phase  is dedicated to those above 60 years of age and those above 45 years with co-morbidities - registered on CO-WIN website and walk-ins at some hospitals. While pricing for a COVID-19 vaccine dose has been capped at Rs 250 at private hospitals, doses are available free of cost at government centers with the Centre bearing the cost of the inoculation. Recently, several states like Delhi, Punjab, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka have sought the Centre's nod to rope in private hospitals and to begin vaccinating adults above 18. As of date, 5,37,25,315 have been administered - 4,56,46,219 have received the first dose, while 80,79,096 have received the second dose.

In mid-March, India's COVID-19 cases begin to rise with Kerala and Maharashtra accounting for 77% of total Covid-19 active cases in the country.

As COVID surged around Maharashtra, the government issued new guidelines capping cinemas (single screen/multiplex) & hotels at 50% capacity, banned social/political/religious gatherings, capped 50 people allowed for weddings & 20 for funerals and capped all offices except health & essential at 50% capacity, advising work from home. Cracking the whip on violations, Maharashtra govt warned that cinema halls/hotels/restaurants found violating COVID-related rules will remain closed for a period until the COVID-19 pandemic stays notified as a disaster by Central govt. All drama theatres and auditoriums are allowed to operate at 50% capacity, with masks mandated. Districts like Amaravati, Yavatmal and Latur have been put already under restrictions and Nagpur has been put under lockdown till the month-end.

India is also unlikely to expand the export of Coronavirus vaccines for the next few months as the focus shifts to domestic demand in view of a spike in Coronavirus infections. With COWIN glitches, vaccination hesitancy and centralisation, India's vaccination drive has progressed slowly with only 14,56,351 vaccinated today. Moreover, over 65 deaths have occured post-vaccination, but Centre has denied any links to inoculation as the reason for deaths. Centre has revised the interval between the two doses of Serum Institute of India (SII)'s vaccine - COVISHIELD to 4-8 weeks instead of 4-6 weeks, while COVAXIN has been removed from 'clinical trial' mode after reporting an efficacy of 81%