India among the leaders in Covid-19 response

India is among the top ranking countries according to the “Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker”, based on data from 73 countries. The Covid-19 tracker by Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford has recognised India’s response as one of the most stringent in the world. This ‘Stringency Index’ is based on indicators such as school closures, travel bans as well as measures such as emergency investment in healthcare, fiscal measure and investment in vaccines by the governments. India, where the government announced a 21-day lockdown on March 24, has scored a perfect 100 on this tracker. Some of the other countries that have scored a perfect 100 are Israel, Mauritius, New Zealand and South Africa.

Czech Republic, Itay, Lebanon and France have scored in the 90s in the index. Germany and the United States have scored in the 80s, while the United Kindom scored in 70s. 

Thomas Hale, Associate Professor at the Blavatnik School of Government, who leads this project, said, “Our index cannot, of course, tell the full story, but we believe the data we have collected can help decision-makers and public health professionals examine the robustness of government responses and provide the first step into understanding exactly what measures have been effective in certain contexts, and why.”