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

being recommended. For instance, antiviral drugs "remdesivir and chloroquine are highly effective in the control of 2019-nCoV infection in vitro" indicating promise for treating COVID-19 patients. 34 Recently though, the study 35 finding hydroxycholoroquine as an effective treatment for COVID-19 has been retracted for bad study design and not meeting expected scientific standards. 36 (f) Use pragmatic real-time data for optimally deploying surveillance, community inspection and health care resources. This is key with limited resources. Economic recommendations: (j) Provide livelihood assistance over the quarantine period to those who test positive. This will incentivize people to get tested and comply with social isolation protocols. For many people in India, loss of several weeks of earnings can be economically devastating and since symptoms are mild for most infected people, it is unreasonable to expect that all people will tightly follow restrictions unless economically protected.