In India, the spreading of the virus has been limited to fewer than 14000 and death under 500, whereas the rest of the world, particularly Europe and North America have seen much higher figures.

The global death toll touching 150,000, with the confirmed number of infected people reaching 2.2 million. On a grim Easter day, the death toll in Europe crossed 75,000.

More than half the world, i.e. over 4 billion people, is in lockdown worldwide, as efforts are on continuously to halt the pandemic’s deadly march across the globe.

In this scenario, what are the reasons for India`s low figures?  The second biggest nation of the world has one of the lowest Covid-19 cases. The comparisons are:

-                  There are 5 people/million in India.

-                  In the U.S. it is over 1100 people/million.

-                  In Italy, it is over 2000 people/million.

Why does India have such low numbers? There could be several reasons:

1.                India imposed the largest lockdown in history. Imagine 1.3 billion people under lockdown for 3 weeks (now being extended by another 2 weeks). It slowed down the spread, with people understanding the seriousness of the situation. Airports and malls are empty, roads  deserted, one does not see children coming out to play, no senior citizens go for their morning or evening walks, no marriages taking place.

2.                In comparison, the U.S was slow to introduce a lockdown - even now there is no national lockdown in the U.S.

3.                Extreme measures were necessary for extremely trying circumstances, to save lives. That is what India is doing. As the Prime Minister of India said on national television, human life is more important than anything else.

4.                The BCG vaccine, scientists believe, helped fight the corona virus. It is a vaccine used on babies to fight TB and is required by countries like Japan and India, whereas countries like the U.S. and the Netherlands do not require this. This is not confirmed yet, but many scientists believe this could be one of the reasons for the slow spread in India and Asia. It also gives us hope that the real vaccine is perhaps round the corner.

5.                The virus spread is less in hotter countries than in cold countries. If analysed statistically, it can be realized that the spread is more in colder countries than in hot countries.

6.                Severe traffic restrictions and early airport screenings have put 1.3 billion at some distance from the virus.

7.                Poor and rich, young and old, literate and illiterate, all paying heed to the call of the Nation and `staying home and staying safe`.

We bow our head to those that serve others unselfishly, medical staff, police forces, essential goods suppliers, pharmacies, food delivery agencies and the like. We also bow our head to the many individuals and organisations that are providing free food to migrant workers and the poor all over the country.

We urge one and all to contribute to the PM`s fund for this cause.

We are one of the few who have been permitted to operate with skeletal staff, only because we make incinerators which are very essential in these difficult times, to get rid of the wastes which could otherwise create another problem.