NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

By Manavi Kapur

When India went into lockdown in March 2020, the fear of Covid-19 swiftly spreading through a densely populated country of 1.3 billion people was dangerously real.

A harsh lockdown, one of the strictest in the world, created a humanitarian crisis of its own, pushing millions of migrant workers to take arduous journeys back home on foot. But the possible catastrophic impact of the pandemic was considered greater in magnitude by the government.

Nearly 11 months on, the Covid-19 infections and fatalities in India tell a different story.

Photo courtesy of nicolasdebraypointcom.