-The Telegraph The government and the elite know nothing of the working poor’s problems A very distinguished virologist whom I happen to know believes that the lockdown in India was an overreaction. His argument is that since the coronavirus was coming to India from outside, Testing and quarantining people coming from abroad, and those with whom they might have been in contact within the country, should have been quite sufficient to prevent...

-The Hindu 40% of patients with severe respiratory illness lacked travel history, suggest ICMR scientists There was evidence for community transmission — or instances of coronavirus (COVID-19) in patients who had no established contact with someone who had picked up the disease from abroad — from as early as March 22, suggests a research study in the Indian Journal of Medical Research, authored by several ICMR scientists — including its head Balram...

-Scroll.in The large proportion of Tablighi positives is simply due to the large number of people who were tested from the event, even as overall Testing remains low. Like the rest of the world, India is battling the coronavirus pandemic. However, here the public conversation over the past week has focussed inordinately on only one facet of the disease: its link with the Tablighi Jamat, a Muslim religious group. A Tablighi Jamat event,...

-The Hindu The Centre can afford to step up its COVID-19 assistance to a higher scale; fiscal deficit is no worry The three-week long lockdown imposed on the country, it can be argued, was an over-reaction. More widespread Testing of possible cases, “social distancing”, self-quarantining by the elderly, and selective lockdown of sensitive areas (as the Chinese government did in Wuhan) might have been quite adequate. But while this can be debated,...

-The Hindu The government has an opportunity to help farmers who are battling declining demand and lower prices Social distancing and living under a lockdown appear to be the only effective ways of dealing with the pandemic. As India lacks the resources to significantly ramp up Testing, imposing a lockdown was the government’s preferred option. Although there is limited evidence to suggest that this strategy may be working in containing the spread...