Amsterdam: Amsterdam-based think-tank, the European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) has lauded India’s major step of 21-day lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic. It said that imposing lockdown in a densely populated country like India, it is a very crucial measure undertaken in the fight against the spread of COVID-19.
Junaid Qureshi, the Director of EFSAS siad, ” In my opinion, the lockdwon has been a very good and very crucial measure in the fight against the spread of COVID-19. While many countries, including European countries despite seeing a surge in the pandemic, did take a lot of time before coming up with aggressive measures to fight the spread of the Coronavirus, India was quick in closing its borders and subsequently calling for a lockdown.”
He added, ” The Indian Government realized very early that a spread of this pandemic in a country like India, or for that matter a region like South Asia, which is among the most densely populated regions in the world, could have catastrophic global consequences. Although the total number of confirmed COVID-19 and the number of deaths are not rising exponentially, recognising that these numbers could surge rapidly and thereby adopting assertive measures to fight it, reflects foresight.”
Although EFSAS opined that the economy of the country will be hit, it had no other choice than a complete lockdown.
He also lauded the economic package introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.