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The first case of the COVID-19 pandemic in India was reported on 30 January 2020, originating from China. As of 25 May 2020, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare have confirmed a total of 138,845 cases, 57,721 recoveries (including 1 migration) and 4,021 deaths in the country. India currently has the fourth largest number of confirmed cases in Asia with number of cases breaching the 100,000 mark on 19 May 2020. India's case fatality rate is relatively lower at 3.09%, against the global 6.63% as of 20 May 2020. Six cities account for around half of all reported cases in the country – Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata. As of 24 May 2020, Lakshadweep is the only region which have not reported a case. The outbreak has been declared an epidemic in more than a dozen states and union territories, where provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 have been invoked, and educational institutions and many commercial establishments have been shut down. India has suspended all tourist visas, as a majority of the confirmed cases were linked to other countries.

On 22 March 2020, India observed a 14-hour voluntary public curfew at the instance of the prime minister Narendra Modi. The government followed it up with lockdowns in 75 districts where COVID-19 cases had occurred as well as all major cities. Further, on 24 March, the Prime Minister ordered a nationwide lockdown for 21 days, affecting the entire 1.3 billion population of India. On 14 April, the prime minister extended the ongoing nationwide lockdown till 3 May. On 1 May, lockdown across the country was further extended by two more weeks till 17 May.

Michael Ryan, chief executive director of the World Health Organisation's health emergencies programme, said that India had "tremendous capacity" to deal with the coronavirus outbreak and, as the second most populous country, will have enormous impact on the world's ability to deal with it. Other commentators worried about the economic devastation caused by the lockdown, which has huge effects on informal workers, micro and small enterprises, farmers and the self-employed, who are left with no livelihood in the absence of transportation and access to markets. Observers state that the lockdown has slowed the growth rate of the pandemic by 6 April to a rate of doubling every 6 days, and, by 18 April, to a rate of doubling every 8 days.

The Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT), in its report based on data from 73 countries, reports that the Indian Government has responded more stringently than other countries in tackling the pandemic. It noted the government's swift action, emergency policy making emergency investment in healthcare, fiscal measures, investment in vaccine research and active response to the situation, and scored India with a "100" for its strictness.