Effective management of lockdowns and restarts will be a critical capability for Indian administrators Covid-19 is an unprecedented humanitarian challenge.
Six weeks of national lockdown have given India the time to make a concerted effort to flatten the curve. Now, attention is shifting to reopening the economy while containing the virus.
In the six weeks so far, India’s economy has functioned at about half of its full activity level, with over 140 million non-farm workers inactive (of a total of 262 million).
This is, perhaps, a cost that India cannot incur repeatedly. Since the infection risk is likely to persist and could increase when the lockdown is lifted, the economy will need to be managed alongside covid-19, possibly for a