The COVID-19 pandemic has left countries gasping in search of immediate solutions, even as the best scientists and researchers in health and biotechnology in the world are diligently looking for a solution or a vaccine to end this crisis. There is an urgent need to test, deploy, and evolve these solutions quickly over the next few months. Not only does this require significant innovation appetite, but it also requires incredible agility on the part of businesses and government institutions to effectively capture and eliminate the threat of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 crisis, which has descended upon the world with unimaginable swiftness, has quickly escalated and deeply disrupted lives, livelihoods, and economies everywhere. Its infectious spread has affected people from all walks of life in over 215 countries, accelerated by a complex interconnected world in which we all live, where the movement of people is essential to the economy of almost all countries. The COVID-19 pandemic has left countries gasping in search of immediate solutions, even as the best scientists and researchers in health and biotechnology in the world are diligently looking for a solution or a vaccine to end this crisis.

A crisis of this magnitude that is spreading rapidly requires urgent preventive, and curative solutions in several categories, ranging from high-quality, reliable masks, PPEs, and disinfectants to contact tracking, etc. There is an urgent need to test, deploy, and evolve these solutions quickly over the next few months. Not only does this require significant innovation appetite, but it also requires incredible agility on the part of businesses and government institutions to effectively capture and eliminate the threat of COVID-19.

Along with the fight against COVID-19 on the health front, India needs to keep its expansionary economic policy in 2020. However, the room for action is limited and further complicated by the COVID-19 outbreak.

In 2019, India implemented an expansionary economic policy to support the slowing economic growth. Consequently, the country’s consolidated economic deficit, which includes Central and local governments’ general public balances, and its fiscal deficit in 2020-21, may rise up to 6.2 percent of the GDP from 3.5 percent as a fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fitch Solutions said. For 2020, India pledges to keep this expansionary economic policy. Moreover, the COVID-19 outbreak and its consequences pose a significant challenge to the economic stance.

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The authors are R. Ramanan, Additional Secretary and Mission Director (AIM), NITI Aayog, Naman Agrawal, Senior Associate, NITI Aayog and Himanshu Agrawal, Young Professional, NITI Aayog. Views expressed are personal.