?The? ?influential? ?and? ?prestigious? ?Lowy? ?Institute? ?based? ?in? ?Australia? ?examined? ?98? ?countries? ?around? ?the? ?world? ?in? ?terms? ?of? ?the? ?performance? ?in? ?COVID-19.? ?Six? ?metrics? ?were? ?used,? ?and? ?then? ?converted? ?into? ?an? ?index:? ?confirmed? ?cases? ?in? ?total? ?and? ?per? ?million;? ?confirmed? ?deaths? ?in? ?total? ?and? ?per? ?million? ?population;? ?confirmed? ?cases? ?as? ?a? ?proportion? ?of? ?tests;? ?and? ?tests? ?per? ?thousand? ?people?.
The? ?top? ?ten? ?countries? ?in? ?order? ?are:? ?New? ?Zealand;? ?Vietnam;? ?Taiwan;? ?Thailand;? ?Cyprus;? ?Rwanda;? ?Iceland;? ?Australia;? ?Latvia? ?and? ?Sri? ?Lanka.? ?This? ?is? ?quite? ?a? ?diverse? ?collection.? ?Interestingly,? ?countries? ?that? ?are? ?normally? ?at? ?the? ?forefront? ?of? ?high? ?rank? ?in? ?various? ?competitiveness? ?and? ?education? ?schema,? ?received? ?mixed? ?to? ?poor? ?results.? ?For? ?example,? ?the? ?US? ?was? ?ranked? ?94?th?,? ?the? ?UK? ?66?th?,? ?France? ?73?rd?,? ?Germany? ?55?th?,? ?Canada? ?61?st?,? ?Russia? ?76?th,?,? ?South? ?Africa? ?82?nd?? ?and? ?Brazil? ?last? ?at? ?98th.? ?India? ?is? ?at? ?86?th?? ?place,? ?and? ?will? ?be? ?discussed? ?in? ?more? ?detail? ?shortly.? ?The? ?Institute’s? ?findings? ?confirm,? ?that? ?as? ?is? ?to? ?be? ?expected,? ?countries? ?with? ?smaller? ?populations? ?had? ?more? ?success? ?in? ?containment.? ?Authoritarian? ?regimes? ?had? ?no? ?real? ?advantage? ?in? ?dealing? ?with? ?pandemic,? ?while? ?despite? ?the? ?obvious? ?exceptions? ?in? ?the? ?US? ?and? ?UK,? ?over? ?time? ?democracies? ?have? ?performed? ?better.? ?Hybrid? ?regimes? ?performed? ?the? ?worst.? ?Interestingly,? ?richer? ?countries? ?were? ?confronted? ?with? ?very? ?significant? ?early? ?challenges? ?overwhelming? ?them,? ?driven? ?in? ?large? ?measure? ?by? ?continued? ?travel? ?from? ?overseas,? ?while? ?developing? ?countries? ?acted? ?with? ?more? ?urgency.? ?The? ?relatively? ?low? ?technology? ?nature? ?of? ?the? ?mitigations,? ?including? ?lockdown? ?may? ?have? ?“levelled? ?the? ?playing? ?field”? ?in? ?respect? ?of? ?richer? ?and? ?poorer? ?countries,? ?although? ?on? ?balance? ?the? ?richer? ?countries? ?have? ?performed? ?better.? ?Countries? ?with? ?more? ?porous? ?borders? ?have? ?struggled? ?to? ?contain? ?the? ?pandemic? ?while? ?Asia? ?Pacific? ?nations? ?have? ?fared? ?the? ?best? ?on? ?a? ?regional? ?level? ?compared? ?to? ?other? ?regions.? ?As? ?mentioned,? ?India? ?has? ?been? ?ranked? ?at? ?86?th?? ?place? ?out? ?of? ?98? ?countries.? ?Further? ?interrogation? ?of? ?the? ?dynamic,? ?interactive? ?Lowy? ?Institute? ?database? ?by? ?this? ?author? ?shows? ?that? ?India? ?has? ?consistently? ?scored? ?below? ?the? ?global? ?median.? ?Scores? ?are? ?also? ?aligned? ?to? ?weeks? ?after? ?the? ?100?th?? ?case.? ?The? ?data? ?shows? ?for? ?India? ?that? ?between? ?4-8? ?weeks? ?after? ?the? ?100?th?? ?case? ?was? ?discovered? ?represented? ?the? ?sharpest? ?drop? ?in? ?overall? ?score,? ?and? ?that? ?the? ?period? ?of? ?16-32? ?weeks? ?represented? ?roughly? ?the? ?period? ?of? ?lowest? ?score.? ?After? ?the? ?32?nd?? ?week,? ?an? ?uptick? ?in? ?score? ?was? ?noted.? ?This? ?pattern,? ?in? ?our? ?view,? ?could? ?be? ?possibly? ?because? ?of? ?the? ?sudden? ?upsurge? ?of? ?the? ?pandemic? ?overwhelming? ?authorities,? ?lack? ?of? ?preparedness,? ?and? ?absence? ?of? ?robust? ?infrastructure,? ?including? ?testing.? ?It? ?should? ?be? ?noted? ?that? ?compared? ?to? ?other? ?BRICS? ?countries? ?(absent? ?China? ?due? ?to? ?lack? ?of? ?data),? ?India? ?avoided? ?the? ?very? ?sharp? ?score? ?fluctuations? ?of? ?South? ?Africa? ?(ranked? ?overall? ?82nd)? ?and? ?has? ?consistently? ?outperformed? ?Brazil? ?over? ?time? ?(Brazil? ?is? ?ranked? ?last? ?at? ?98).? ?While? ?India? ?had? ?higher? ?score? ?than? ?Russia? ?(ranked? ?76?th?? ?overall)? ?earlier? ?in? ?the? ?piece,? ?after? ?12? ?weeks? ?Russia? ?pulled? ?ahead,? ?but? ?score? ?convergence? ?has? ?been? ?seen? ?after? ?32? ?weeks.? ?India’s? ?performance? ?below? ?the? ?global? ?median? ?can? ?be? ?attributed? ?to? ?a? ?number? ?of? ?factors,? ?including? ?large? ?population? ?and? ?high? ?population? ?density,? ?especially? ?in? ?crowded? ?urban? ?centres? ?in? ?mega? ?cities,? ?limited? ?health? ?resources,? ?friction? ?between? ?State? ?and? ?National? ?Governments? ?(and? ?considerable? ?variation? ?in? ?city? ?responses),? ?lack? ?of? ?clarity? ?regarding? ?respective? ?public? ?and? ?private? ?sector? ?roles,? ?and? ?misinformation? ?about? ?Governmental? ?response?.? ?We? ?then? ?investigated? ?the? ?Oxford? ?University? ?data? ?base? ?(interrogated? ?as? ?at? ?March? ?9? ?2021),? ?to? ?discern? ?policy? ?oriented? ?responses,? ?including? ?vaccinations,? ?to? ?the? ?pandemic?.
Comparisons between India and New Zealand (ranked the world’s number one in the Lowy Institute Index) are made and which reveal interesting findings. To be sure however, commentary in this paragraph is about the existence of policy rather than their efficacy, effectiveness or efficiency. Firstly, compared to the world leader, India has not been able to provide consistent income support to affected population over the last year, beyond a small window of time in the first part of 2020. Ongoing income support was clearly considered financially non-sustainable, and in addition there likely have been issues about effective and efficient targeting of support. However, for debt and contract relief (e.g stopping loan repayments, banning evictions, preventing essential services from being cut off), India’s approach has been on a par with NZ. For contract tracing policy India has pursued a comprehensive approach as has NZ, while over time testing policy in India has shifted from testing for targeted groups having symptoms (e.g hospital workers, those returned from overseas) to anyone with symptoms and then to open public testing, including asymptomatic people. Again this sequencing is similar to NZ. However, vaccination policy has arguably moved ahead in India, focussing on all vulnerable groups, while in NZ the focus has been on one or two groups. India is generally regarded as having taken on a national and global leadership role in vaccination, and has a proven track record in large scale vaccine delivery.
Dr Anand Kulkarni is Associate Director, Planning, Performance and Risk at Victoria University.
The views expressed here the author’s alone and may not necessarily reflect those of Qrius
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