India Biology News Articles

March 14th, 2020

Source: World Health Organization India, “COVID-19: Situation Update Report – 7”,
Published On: 14/3/20, Accessed On: 14/4/20, https://www.who.int/docs/default-
source/wrindia/situation-report/india-situation-report-7.pdf?sfvrsn=cf4a7312_2

Prior to any analysis of a current situation – in this case, how the coronavirus
outbreak is affecting India – it’s imperative to provide some context in order to comprehend
the severity of what’s happening and to what extent it has changed the country.

One of the first official press releases on the situation was done by the World Health
Organization on the 14th of March. Aside from being one of the most reliable sources for
these types of sanitary crises, this article provided a very thorough analysis of many sectors
of the country after the outbreak, such as the economy, politics, geography and biology;
however, the aim of this investigation is to focus on the latter.

Let’s look at one of my favorite details of the entire article. The World Health
Organization uses a method to classify the risk of a country’s coronavirus situation
escalating out of control; in the case of India, it’s ‘very high’. Geography, population density
and wealth disparity are the three main factors behind this

India is situated in south-east Asia, and Mumbai, its biggest city, is just over 4,000
kilometers from Wuhan City – the ground zero of the outbreak.

Furthermore, India is the second most populous country in the world, with nearly 1.4 billion
inhabitants. As if this wasn’t enough, India also has some of the most densely populated
cities in the world, with places such as Mumbai fitting its 19 million residents at a density of
32,000 people per square kilometer.

Moreover, almost 300 million people in India live below the poverty line, and those who
aren’t completely homeless are living in tightly packed households that lack the necessary
requirements to carry out a proper quarantine.

One way or another, India looks to be condemned to troublesome times with the
coronavirus.

To conclude, India’s geography, population and wealth disparity are sentencing the
south-east Asian country to troublesome times with the coronavirus. The only thing we can
wish for the Indian people to do are to try to isolate themselves from others as best they
can and wait for humanitarian assistance from entities such as the UN.

March 24th, 2020

Source: Alex Ward, “India’s coronavirus lockdown and its looming crisis, explained”, VOX,
Published On: 24/3/20, Accessed On: 14/4/20,
https://www.vox.com/2020/3/24/21190868/coronavirus-india-modi-lockdown-kashmir

Shocking the entire world, India is looking almost immune to the coronavirus; this
fact is even more impressive considering the factors which, on paper, make the country very
prone to a nation-wide outbreak. VOX writer Alex Ward decided to explain the truth behind
India’s low coronavirus case numbers.

As educated as this analysis is, we mu

April 12th, 2020

Source: World Health Organization India, “COVID-19: Situation Update Report – 11”,
Published On: 12/4/20, Accessed On: 14/4/20, https://www.who.int/docs/default-
source/wrindia/situation-report/india-situation-report-11.pdf?sfvrsn=438ff245_2

Before concluding the Bioeconomy task, we’d like to look back at how the situation
has escalated towards the latter stages of the due date. To do this, let’s look at the 11 th
Situation Update Report of India by the World Health Organization.

As we’ve seen in the seventh situation report, the outbreak in India began on the
14th of march and all signs pointed to another escalation similar to that seen in the US or
Italy. Nevertheless, after the national lockdown was implemented on the 25 th, the number
of new cases stayed steady; granted they were growing, but not at the astronomical rate
that was predicted due to India’s circumstances. The fact that a country that houses 19% of
the world population only accounts for 0.5% of all coronavirus cases is absolutely
remarkable.

On the very same report is a graph by the Indian Ministry of Health and Welfare (2020)
which outlines the number of cases in the country. As we can see, the most recent dates are
seeing just over a thousand new cases – this is taking place over 4 weeks after the outbreak!
In contrast, a country such as the United States which has a population ¼ of that of India
spread out in an area twice the size is seeing over 30.000 new cases per day. All signs point
towards a great containment of the virus in India coupled with a well timely quarantine and
well-implemented isolation.
April 14th, 2020
The Hindu Journal, “Coronavirus India Lockdown Day 21 Updates”, The Hindu Net Desk,
Published On: 14/4/20, Accessed On: 20/4/20,
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-coronavirus-lockdown-april-14-2020-live-
updates/article31336184.ece

This article is one of the clearest examples of human ingenuity throughout the lockdown.
It’s day 21 of the quarantine in India, and desperate residents have started thinking outside
the box to fulfil their needs.

April 26th, 2020

Source: The Hindu Journal, “India Lockdown Day 33 Updates”, THND, Published On:
26/4/20, Accessed On: 4/5/20, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-
coronavirus-lockdown-april-26-2020-live-updates/article31436416.ece

Death toll continued to increase: 46 new deaths and almost 2,000 more cases. Be that as it
may, we’ve already seen that India is a massive continent which is handling the situation as
best as it can. The Indian Ministry is pleased with the success of their containment strategy
and treatment, as infection rates are growing very gradually, only 3.1% of patients are dying
and 20% of them recover. Be that as it may, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has claimed that
they will take even more steps to further isolate the virus.

April 28th, 2020

Source: Soutik Biswas, “India Coronavirus: The ‘Mystery’ of low Covid-19 Related Deaths”,
BBC, Published On: 28/4/20, Accessed On: 4/5/20, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-
india-52435463

The author dives into the surprising fact that the world’s second most populous country is
seeing so little impact from such a contagious virus. While some possible theories are that
the lockdown implementation was very successful, an inaccurate postmortem diagnosis or
that the strain is less virulent in the Indian subcontinent, the author is convinced that not
enough tests are being performed. While the author only plays with this idea, he supports
his opinion with that of Indian American oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee, which suggests
that such an irregularity can only be down to insufficient testing.