The recent creation of a Stringency Index by Oxford University has gained traction by presenting how countries across the globe have enforced strict measures to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. This composite measure, based on various indicators like school and workplace closures, stay-at-home policies, and travel bans, determines the level of strictness of policies on a scale of 0 to 100. As per this index, India implemented one of the strongest lockdowns at a rather early stage of case growth.
Understanding the Stringency Index
The Government Response Stringency Index is a comprehensive measure developed by the Oxford Coronavirus Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) team. With a hundred members from the Oxford community, the OxCGRT updates a database of 17 indicators revealing government responses. A higher score on the index denotes a higher degree of stringency.
India’s Score:
According to the index findings, since March 22nd, when the first nationwide lockdown was imposed, India has consistently scored 100, indicating the most stringent lockdown measures. While a slight relaxation in norms for specific workplaces outside of red zones occurred on April 20th, the country has largely maintained its strict countermeasures. Other countries with a similar score include Honduras, Argentina, Jordan, Libya, Sri Lanka, Serbia, and Rwanda.
Death Curve and Stringency Score:
An intriguing aspect of the index is its provision for an overlay of a country’s death curve alongside its stringency score. This allowed a comparative analysis of eighteen nations with the highest death count at the time of implementing the most stringent measures. Countries like Italy, Spain, and France began to see a flattening of their death curves as they reached their highest stringency levels, while the UK, the US, and India are still facing unflattened death curves.
India’s Comparative Analysis:
When compared to other countries with similar or higher case loads, India enforced its stringent lockdown at a much earlier stage. At the enforcement of the lockdown, India had roughly 320 cases as opposed to the over 500 cases that were present in other comparable countries. By March 22nd, India had reported only four deaths, significantly fewer than other countries. In comparison, Spain enforced their strictest measures later in the case and death count than others, while Sweden maintained the most liberal measures.
Response to WHO’s Recommendations:
The index also assessed whether countries were able to meet the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendations for relaxing physical distancing measures. The research found that no country fully met all four measured recommendations, though 20 were close. India scored 0.7, lower than Australia, Thailand, Taiwan, and South Korea, primarily due to its inability to control its cases. Meanwhile, countries such as Iceland, Hong Kong, Croatia, and Trinidad & Tobago led the ranking with scores of 0.9.