JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

A policy is a set of ideas or a plan of what to do in a particular situation that has been agreed to officially by a group of people, a business organisation, a government or a political party. Amid Coronavirus which had initially started off as an epidemic and was finally declared pandemic has forced nations across the world to come up with new policies to protect their citizens from this virus. China, Italy and India have been taken as a case study for the present research as the researchers believe these are the countries which have been the most affected at different stages of COVID 19 and have followed a narrative approach using secondary data that has been gathered from various news articles. The researchers have identified the policies used by each country separately and then conducted a comparative study on the policies of these three countries. The aim of the research paper is to understand the policies taken up by the countries to fight the pandemic COVID 19 and understand which was the best policy among these three countries policies and finally highlight policy recommendations which other nations have inculcated

Objective:

To identify the successful policies used by China,Italy and India in containing COVID 19

Methods:

For the current study the researchers have decided to use narrative research for the qualitative study in question. The researchers will conduct a comparative analysis between the three countries policies to identify their similarities and differences

Results:

As India is a democratic country and is home to a diverse set of people, India cannot implement policies without the support of its people. There has been some insight on the community reaction to policies imposed by governments. Italian’s as a community are considered to be a’ happy go lucky’ bunch. Hence when coronavirus sprung up in Italy, it was not taken seriously. Bars, shopping malls and pubs remained open. This is one of the reasons why Italy is said to have been the most impacted by this pandemic. China has been known to follow a very stringent political system. The general public have no other option but to follow rules and regulations without questioning them. Hence, policies imposed by the centre were followed and the pandemic could be contained faster than it was in Italy. India as a nation houses a plethora of people from different cultural and economic backgrounds. On one hand there are states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Goa which are compared to economies of the developed world while on the other hand, there exist states like Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand which lay on the lower rung on the economic development ladder. An individual's adherence to government policies is highly dependent on their level of education. While a part of the public strictly followed the statutes proclaimed by their state governments, the other half chose to believe in baseless WhatsApp forwards and other misinformation and hoaxes about the coronavirus. To monitor the reaction of the citizens and to give them enough time to prepare for the temporary lockdown, the Prime Minister first implored that all the citizens should observe a self-imposed curfew from 7am to 9pm on Sunday, March 22nd 2020. This allowed the prime minister and the government to understand which states will comply with a lockdown and which states need more iteration in terms of stricter rules such as shoot at site and more security to make sure people remain quarantined during a longer lockdown period. The Indian government had decided to move the nation into a lockdown period, where they had come out with a comprehensive list of essential services that will remain open during the nationwide lockdown. This list had been put in place by the Ministry of Home Affairs soon after PM Narendra Modi had called for a 21 day nationwide lock down so that the people do not begin to panic about the availability of the essential commodities and medicines as the various state governments were to work together to ensure this. The offices of the Government of India along with the Offices of the State /Union territory shall remain closed and the only exemptions under these offices are the defence, central armed police forces, treasury, public utilities (including petroleum, CNG, LPG, PNG), disaster management and prisons, power generation and transmission units , post offices ,National Informatics centre, Early Warning Agencies. All hospitals and all related medical establishments including their manufacturing and distribution units are to remain open while the transportation for all medical personnel, nurses, Para medical staff and other hospital support services are to be permitted. All commercial , Industrial and Private establishments are to be closed down unless these shops are dealing with food, groceries, fruits and vegetables, dairy and milk booths, meat and fish, animal fodder or if they are manufacturing units of essential commodities or if there is a continuous process that has received the permission from the state governments. However, district authorities are encouraging and facilitating home delivery to minimize the movement of individuals outside their homes. Transportation services have been suspended unless it is the transportation of essential goods or for Fire, Law and order and emergency services. All educational institutions, places of worship and social, political, sports, entertainment gatherings have been barred and the only form of gathering is that of a funeral and not more than 20 people will be permitted. Containment measures have been taken by the country where individuals who have arrived in the nation post 15th February 2020 are to be directed by a health care personnel to remain under strict home/ institutional quarantine for a period as decided by the local health authorities ,failing which they will be liable to legal actions under Sec. 188 of the IPC. If there are exceptions to the containment measures the individuals are required to take the necessary precautions as well as social distancing as advised by the health department from time to time. The government has taken the initiative to distribute five kgs of wheat or rice and one kg of preferred pulse free of cost for the next 3 months to the 80 crore poor people across the country so that they can deal with the economic impact of the lock down amid coronavirus. This is being distributed in the households under the Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana which is covered by the National Food Security Act. This is permitting the government to provide food grains per person at a subsidised rate. The beneficiaries will get free ration above their monthly quota of 5 kg food grains per month which has now been increased to 7 kilograms a month for the next three months. While India has taken as much precaution as possible to protect its citizens it has also lent a helping hand to the Chinese when they were in need due to the challenges of the epidemic which caused a shortage in medical supplies. India had taken it upon itself to send a consignment of medical supplies to China keeping all close cooperation that are enjoyed in various areas between the nations.

Conclusions:

The first suggestion is for the formation of a contact tracing team. Anyone who has been tested as positive for the virus is kept in the hospital and away from friends and family. All those who have been in contact with those who tested positive are monitored by a contact tracing team who identify the contacts of the infected person and ring them up to see if they show any symptoms, if they do, they are picked up from their location and tested. However, if they show no symptoms are kept in a strict home quarantine and they get an SMS several times a day and they have to click on the link so that the team can track where one’s phone is, to make sure that one is quarantined. There are harsh penalties if the individuals are found to be cheating the contact tracing team. Our next policy recommendation is one that borrows ideologies from behavioural economics. Decision makers can reward those who give out information about those who conceal information from the authorities. This acts as positive reinforcement and aids in finding those and containing the pandemic. There is a dire need for expansion of our telehealth services. Medical infrastructure should be expanded and physicians in specialties other than contagious disease should be brought in. Diagnostic and telehealth services must be easily accessible to the public. Restrictions on state border travel should be lifted to meet demands created in outbreak areas.