  Indian response to the pandemic has been described from "India is in denial
about the covid-19 crisis" or "India staring at corona virus disaster", to "The
mystery of India's plummeting covid-19 cases". These responses have been far
from being backed scientifically and appear ignorant of India's capabilities of
leveraging its strengths to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. Backed by a
swift Government action of restricting/regulating movement to increasing public
health capacity to meet the increasing demands of the pandemic, India seems to
have done enough to emerge successful. India is doing well, if not guaranteed
for the future, but at least for now. Here we review these measures and point
to their consistency with analysis of the role of intercommunity transmission
and within community action to stop localized outbreaks. In particular, severe
restrictions on travel, stopping gatherings, targeted localized lockdowns,
school closures, effective public communication, improvements in case
identification, rapid ramping of industrial production of masks and other
personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing capacity, as well as intensive
measures in high density areas of urban deprivation have placed India in a
regime of declining cases and outbreak control. It is time to recognize the
scientific basis of India's success and give it its due. With the number of new
cases in India leveling recently, the urgency is great to complete the
eliminiation process so that a new surge does not occur.
