‘Testing’ Times: Fighting Covid-19 Deaths during Lockdown in India

26 Pages Posted: 11 May 2020 Last revised: 14 Sep 2020

See all articles by Ritika Jain

Ritika Jain

Centre for Development Studies (CDS) India

Tirtha Chatterjee

O.P. Jindal Global University - Jindal School of Government and Public Policy; Jindal School of Government and Public Policy

Date Written: September 2, 2020

Abstract

We use case fatality rate (CFR) to estimate the severity of Covid-19 deaths in India during the nationwide lockdown period (March 25th to May 31st 2020). Although CFR plummeted during the period, state level data shows high variation. We examine how pre-existing factors such as ability to practice social distancing, health capacity and size of vulnerable population affect CFR across states. We find that although these pre-existing factors matter, they have rather limited impact on CFR. On the other hand testing has a significant impact on CFR. We find that testing is relatively more helpful in reducing CFR for the unfavourably placed group of states- lower capacity to socially distance, lower per capita health expenditure and higher proportion of at-risk population groups. However, it seems to aid states with better medical infrastructure. We also find that testing has a higher impact on reducing CFR for states with more aggressive and higher coverage of testing. Our results show that for an ongoing pandemic like Covid-19, aggressive and higher coverage testing is the way to go.

Note: Funding: None to declare

Declaration of Interest: None to declare

Keywords: COVID-19, fatality, testing, India

JEL Classification: I15, H12, H51

Suggested Citation

Jain, Ritika and Chatterjee, Tirtha, ‘Testing’ Times: Fighting Covid-19 Deaths during Lockdown in India (September 2, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3596767 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3596767

Ritika Jain (Contact Author)

Centre for Development Studies (CDS) India ( email )

Trivandrum 695 011, Kerala
India

Tirtha Chatterjee

O.P. Jindal Global University - Jindal School of Government and Public Policy ( email )

O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat Narela Road
Near Jagdishpur Village
Sonipat, 131001
India

Jindal School of Government and Public Policy ( email )

Sonipat
Haryana
Sonipat, Haryana 131001
India

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
135
Abstract Views
2,224
Rank
383,693
PlumX Metrics