The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused an unprecedented public health challenge in India, with over 32 million confirmed cases and over 400 000 deaths as of the end of August 2021 (JHU CSSE, 2021). India imposed a universal, strict lockdown, which began in March 2020 as the pandemic started, and lasted for several months.This provided a window of opportunity to prepare the healthcare system and helped in flattening the epidemic curve and reducing mortality. After the first wave — by the end of January 2021 — a low case fatality rate (CFR) of 1.4% was reported, with 154, 428 deaths among the 10.76 million cases (Purkayastha et al., 2021).
