October 20 at 10:00 am PDT / 1:00 pm EDT 

When the novel coronavirus made it to India in early 2020, contagion forecasts were high, given the country's dense urban areas, localized government units, and unequal health-care systems. Like many countries, India saw a daily increase in cases throughout the year, peaking at just under 100,000 cases per day before steadily dropping. This year it experienced a second wave, with infections reaching a high of just over 400,000 new cases per day. Many hospitals were overwhelmed, and there were shortages of oxygen. Even so, overall, India has bucked the trend, registering lower rates of infection and death than countries with much smaller populations and more advanced economies. Why have the infection and mortality rates in India been relatively low? What role did community groups and local institutions play in stemming infection and maintaining livelihoods? What lessons from India's example can be applied to countries facing new infection waves?

Moderator

Reuben Abraham
CEO and Senior Fellow, IDFC Institute; Milken Institute Asia Fellow

Speakers

Anup Malani
Lee and Brena Freeman Professor of Law, University of Chicago

Manoj Mohanan
Associate Professor of Public Policy, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University

Bhramar Mukherjee
John D Kalbfleisch Collegiate Professor of Biostatistics and Professor of Global Public Health, School of Public Health, University of Michigan

Lancelot Pinto
Consultant Pulmonologist and Epidemiologist, PD Hinduja Hospital and Medical Research Centre