Predictions, role of interventions and effects of a historic national lockdown in India's response to the COVID-19 pandemic: data science call to arms

Debashree Ray; Maxwell Salvatore; Rupam Bhattacharyya; Lili Wang; Shariq Mohammed; Soumik Purkayastha; Aritra Halder; Alexander Rix; Daniel Barker; Michael Kleinsasser; Yiwang Zhou; Peter Song; Debraj Bose; Mousumi Banerjee; Veerabhadran Baladandayuthapani; Parikshit Ghosh; Bhramar Mukherjee

Finally, our message to the public is to proceed with prudence and caution, and not panic or drown in despair. We should draw hope from the success of South Korea and China and the initial promising containment in India. We need to support the community around us and help the government of India to manage the crisis with the best strategies, resources and science. The lockdown has given us time to prepare and act, let us make the best use of it. We are still in a state of national and global emergency and it will take a considerable time for humanity to recover from this global pandemic and return to normalcy. In the meantime, we root for public health, for innovation and science, for home testing kits [there is none yet], 44 for FDA approved drugs [Solidarity Trial], 45 and for a vaccine [5 clinical trials ongoing]. 46 In these frightening times, we find inspiration in the power of the common people and the magic of human kindness. author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.