Of denial and data: Deaths due to India’s COVID-19 national lockdown

On March 23, 2020, the Indian government announced a national lockdown, barely giving a four-notice to a country of 1.3 billion people. What unfolded next was a humanitarian crisis, including deaths caused by the lockdown. The Indian government has been in denial about these deaths and the data on them. In this article, we describe the motivation, process, and details of our attempt to gather data on the human costs of the lockdown. Using media reports, we recorded a total of 989 deaths under 11 categories from March-July 2020. These deaths highlight the devastating consequences of a harsh and sudden lockdown on the vulnerable sections. They also underscore the need for strong social security efforts to reduce the aftereffects of the lockdown and the pandemic.