India's Covid-19 restrictions still high relative to other nations

Subsequent waves reflect lower restrictions, compared to initial lockdown

Nearly a third of every Covid case detected since the pandemic reared its head has come from only three countries. India accounted for about  9 per cent. Brazil for another 6 per cent. And the US for more than the two combined, at nearly 17 per cent.

India’s latest value for the stringency index is higher than either of these two peers. Values are lower in both the US and Brazil, show numbers from Our World in Data.
 

The index considers indicators, including school and workplace closures, besides travel bans. This Oxford Covid-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) was developed at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. If policies vary at the sub-national level, they reflect the strictest sub-region.
 

“It’s important to note that this index simply records the strictness of government policies. It does not measure or imply the appropriateness or effectiveness of a country’s response. A higher score does not necessarily mean that a country’s response is ‘better’ than others lower on the index,” said a note on the Our World in Data website.
 

The data is not uniformly updated. The numbers considered are in accordance with the latest available for each country.

The index had been at 100 in March 2020 for India. The corresponding levels for the US and Brazil were closer to 70 at the time. The lowest level in India after the pandemic began was 37.5 in November 2021. This was before the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus became widespread. It is currently at 71.76 as of March 14. The reading for Brazil as of March 7 (the latest available) was 69.9. It is 58.8 for the US as of March 16. All three countries saw restrictions rise after the Omicron variant became widespread. Workplace visits have moved at a different pace in all the three countries. India and Brazil have had more people now reporting to work than was the case before the pandemic began, shows the mobility numbers from search engine Google. It uses anonymised location data to see how people are moving during the pandemic. This has not been true for the US.
 

Brazil has seen its retail and recreation visits lag the recovery in its workplace visits. Workplace visits for the South American country are 28.6 per cent higher than a baseline value in 2020 before the pandemic took hold. Brazil’s retail and recreation visits are still below this level.
 

India’s retail and recreation visits are 6.9 per cent higher than the baseline value, which reflects the time before cases became widespread and governments imposed restrictions.  India’s workplace visits have recovered more than retail and recreation. It is at 12.9 per cent above the baseline value. It had crossed 25 per cent earlier in the month.
 

The US has seen retail and recreation visits bounce back, but remain 9.7 per cent short of the baseline value. The workplace visit number is worse. It is down 19 per cent.
 

The Google data is released with a lag. The latest is as of March 19.
 

Note: The stringency index (as seen in the first chart) is a composite measure based on nine response indicators rescaled to a value from 0 to 100 (100 = strictest). If policies vary at the sub-national level, the index shows the response of the strictest sub-region.

Source: Our World in Data (Oxford Covid-19 Government Response Tracker) 

Latest updates (for charts 2-4) are as of March 19, based on location data as processed by the company. The percentage change is compared to a baseline value for the same day of the week,  calculated on a median basis during the 5-week period Jan 3–Feb 6, 2020. The chart shows a seven-day rolling average of visits to each category.

Sources: Google LLC Google Covid-19 Community Mobility Reports, Our World in Data