indian government response to the covid-19 pandemic indian government response to the covid-19 pandemic the first responses of the government of india to the covid-19 pandemic in the country involved thermal screenings of passengers arriving from china, the country from which the coronavirus disease 2019 originated, as well as of passengers arriving from other countries. as the pandemic spread worldwide, the indian government recommended social distancing measures and also initiated travel and entry restrictions. throughout march 2020, several shutdowns and business closures were initiated, and by the end of the month, the indian government ordered a widespread lockdown. an economic package was announced in may 2020. for indian state government responses, see indian state government responses to the covid-19 pandemic. further information: covid-19 pandemic in india part of a series on thecovid-19 pandemicscientifically accurate atomic model of the external structure of sars-cov-2. each 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financial markets food industry food security journalism music performing arts retail shipping television us sportscasting programs tourism video games by country canada india ireland malaysia new zealand russia uk us by sport association football baseball basketball combat sports cricket disc golf gaelic games gridiron football ice hockey motorsport rugby league impacts animals black people crime death rates by country disability domestic violence emergency evacuations education female environment hospitals language lgbt community long-term care media coverage mental health symptoms migration military notable deaths other health issues politics diplomacy popular culture protests pregnancy prisons religion catholic church hajj science and technology social media strikes suicides telehealth xenophobia and racism society ireland malaysia new zealand russia uk us covid-19 portal background on 11 january 2020, the who confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in india city, jaipur, india, which was reported to the who on 31 december 2019. initial measures january–february 2020 protective measures were first applied in january. india began thermal screening of passengers arriving from china on 21 january. initially carried out at seven airports, it was expanded to 20 airports towards the end of january. during february, the screening was extended to passengers from thailand, singapore, hong kong, japan and south korea. nepal, vietnam, indonesia and malaysia were added to the list towards the end of february. very few new cases were discovered during february, the indian council of medical research (icmr) admitted that airport screening alone was insufficient. march 2020 awareness poster released by the ministry of health and family welfare india reported its first case of covid-19 in january 2020, and by march 2020, the government implemented a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the virus. however, this lockdown resulted in significant economic disruption and social challenges, particularly for the millions of informal workers who lost their livelihoods. by early to mid march, the government had drawn up plans to deal with a worsening of the pandemic in the country. this included seven ministries working together to set up additional quarantine and treatment facilities across the country. states and twenty ministries, including home, defence, railways, labour, minority affairs, aviation and tourism, were informed of the containment plan. plans to avoid a panic-like situation were also made. the ministry of textiles was to ensure the availability of protective and medical materials. the department of pharmaceuticals was to ensure the availability of essential medicines. the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution was asked to ensure availability of essentials. on 17 march, the government of india issued an advisory, urging all indian states to take social distancing measures as a preventive strategy for implementation till 31 march. a government directive was issued asking all central armed police forces to get into battle mode; all non-essential leave was cancelled. a covid-19 economic response task force was also formed. the covid-19 economic response task force was tasked with formulating and implementing policies and measures to minimize the economic impact of the pandemic on various sectors in india. union and state governments set up national and state helpline numbers. april 2020 despite the early lockdown, india's covid-19 cases surged in september 2020, with over 90,000 cases reported daily. the country's healthcare system struggled to cope with the rapid increase in cases, leading to shortages of hospital beds, medical oxygen, and other essential supplies. the government launched several initiatives to address these shortages, including converting public buildings into covid-19 care centers and increasing domestic production of medical supplies. unfortunately, the second wave of covid-19 hit india in april 2021, resulting in even higher numbers of cases and deaths than the first wave. major indian cities and many states made wearing facial masks compulsory. on 29 april, the ministry of home affairs issued guidelines for the states to allow inter-state movement of the stranded persons. states have been asked to designate nodal authorities and form protocols to receive and send such persons. states have also been asked to screen the people, quarantine them and to do periodic health checkups. india's health ministry published its guidelines on covid-19 management, which included approval of hydroxychloroquine. these guidelines were later criticized by physician anup agarwal for "disregarding the evidence ". travel and entry restrictions on 3 march 2020, the indian government stopped issuing of new visas. previously issued visas for the nationals of iran, south korea, japan, and italy were suspended. all visas were suspended on 13 march, except for diplomatic and other official visas, as well as the visa-free travel for overseas citizens of india. indians returning from covid-affected countries were asked to be quarantined for 14 days. these measures were expanded to citizens from europe, gulf countries and asian countries including malaysia on 17–18 march. the land border with myanmar began to be restricted on 9 march with the initiative of the state governments of mizoram and manipur. on 13 march, the government of india closed passenger traffic from all neighbouring countries other than pakistan. the traffic from pakistan itself was closed on 16 march. travel and registration for sri kartarpur sahib was also suspended on this date. screening on 4 march 2020, the minister of health and family welfare, harsh vardhan, announced compulsory screening of all international passengers arriving in india. he also stated that as of then, 589,000 people had been screened at airports, over one million screened at borders with nepal and around 27,000 were under community surveillance. closedown and curfews over the month of march, multiple states across the country began shutting down schools, colleges, public facilities such as malls, gyms, cinema halls and other public places to contain the spread. on 15 march, ministry of culture closed all monuments and museums under archaeological survey of india. on 23 march, chief minister of maharashtra ordered a statewide curfew and closure of state borders. lockdown main article: covid-19 lockdown in india empty roads during the lockdown in vadodara, gujarat on 22 march, the government of india announced complete lockdown in 82 districts in 22 states and the union territories of the country where confirmed cases were reported. 80 cities including delhi, bengaluru, chennai, mumbai, chandigarh and kolkata were put under lockdown. some states sealed their borders barring inter-state movement. on 24 march, pm narendra modi announced a complete 21-day national lockdown to contain the pandemic. by 6 april, the doubling rate had slowed to six days from earlier figure of three days. after his consultation with cms and administrators of states and uts on 11 april, pm narendra modi announced lockdown extension till 3 may in his address to nation on 14 april, with conditional relaxations in areas with lower spread from 20 april. on 1 may, the government of india extended nationwide lockdown further by two weeks until 17 may. on 17 may, ndma extended the lockdown till 31 may in all indian states. on 30 may, it was announced that lockdown restrictions were to be lifted from then onwards, while the ongoing lockdown would be further extended till 30 june for only the containment zones. services would be resumed in a phased manner starting from 8 june. it was termed as "unlock 1.0". pm modi later clarified that the lockdown phase in the country was over and that 'unlock' had already begun. while generally regarded as necessary, the implementation of the lockdowns was also criticised for worsening the problems of the people. zonal classification the government divided the entire nation into three zones – green zone, red zone, orange zone. relaxations would be allowed accordingly. red zone (hotspots) – districts with high doubling rate and high number of active cases orange zone (non-hotspots) – districts with fewer cases green zone – districts without confirmed cases or without new cases in last 21 days communication and economic stimulus 'prepare, but don't panic' has been india's guiding mantra in dealing with the virus outbreak. our region has reported less than 150 coronavirus cases, but we need to remain vigilant. step-by-step approach helped avoid panic, made special efforts to reach out to vulnerable groups. – prime minister narendra modi during the video conference with saarc nations, 15 march 2020. on 19 march, during a 30-minute live telecast, indian prime minister narendra modi asked all citizens to observe a 'janata curfew' (people's curfew) from 7 am to 9 pm on 22 march. during this curfew he asked everyone, except those involved in essential services, to stay at home. he also asked people to avoid routine checkups and elective surgeries to reduce the burden on the health system. he announced the formation of a covid-19 economic response task force. to acknowledge the work being done by various sectors during the outbreak, he urged people to gather in front of their own doors, windows or balconies at 5 pm and applaud them for five minutes. state and local authorities were told to blow the siren to remind people about the same. on 24 march, modi announced a nationwide lockdown from midnight of that day, for a period of 21 days. he also announced a ₹150 billion (us$1.9 billion) aid for the healthcare sector. this money would be used for developing testing facilities, ppes, icus, ventilators and for training medical workers. on 3 april, pm modi addressed the nation to turn off the lights for nine minutes and lighting the candles on 5 april. in an address on 14 april, pm modi asked the citizens to follow seven steps to help in the fight against coronavirus, "use homemade masks, take care of elderly people, protect jobs, help the poor and needy, follow the guidelines set by ministry of ayush to improve immunity and download the aarogya setu app to track your health." in a live telecast on 12 may, pm modi announced an economic package of ₹20 trillion (us$250 billion) for 'atma nirbhar bharat' (self reliant india). the economic package is nearly 10% of the gdp. he