We reported how the Modi govt ignored warnings from its top scientists against imposing a China-like coercive lockdown in the country. The govt scientists said it could have adverse long-term social, economic and psychological impacts. (2/n) article-14.com/post/no-action…
Ignoring these warnings, an unprepared government, imposed on March 24—with a four-hour notice—an unplanned country-wide lockdown, which sparked an economic & livelihoods crisis, particularly for the poor and migrants. (3/n)
Once the lockdown became a fait accompli, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) scientists warned again: Govt must not assume the lockdown is the SOLUTION. They said the lockdown would only delay not control the pandemic. That too, minimally (4/n) article-14.com/post/govt-knew…
You can see our videos (in Hindi) on these revelations here (5/n):
And
And
The scientists said the “best use of lockdown” was to buy time. To put scientific measures— door-to-door surveillance, community-based monitoring, quarantining one out of every two patients— in place. Without this, they warned the lockdown's benefits would be “temporary.” (6/n)
A day after our first story broke, the Modi govt showed shoddy figures to claim the lockdown was a “success”. It claimed the lockdown dramatically slowed the transmission, new cases would start dropping sharply after May 3 and that India would have no new cases by May 16. (7/n) 
But as the testing rates across the country improved over the next weeks, it turned out that the pandemic was still surging at a higher rate than before. Consider this. There were 12,000 detected cases on April 14. On 30th April: 33,000 and on 9th May: 60,000. (8/n)
With the numbers rising, the 3rd phase of the extended lockdown nearing an end, govt has finally started to admit in public: the lockdown is not working the way it claimed (In the poor dense urban areas it doesn't even provide a temporary reprieve) (9/n)
This is where we paused with the previous series.
Two questions began to bother us:
1. Does the the govt have a science-based strategy to exit the lockdown?
2. Is it even telling the truth about the spread of the pandemic? (10/n)
Two questions began to bother us:
1. Does the the govt have a science-based strategy to exit the lockdown?
2. Is it even telling the truth about the spread of the pandemic? (10/n)
We again went hunting for answers. We are ready to reveal what we found. Can we request you to follow our handle @reporters_co
To watch us tell the stories, subscribe to (11/n):
youtube.com/c/thereporters…
To watch us tell the stories, subscribe to (11/n):
youtube.com/c/thereporters…
