Founders Against Covid-19: Urge Stronger and Immediate Steps from the Government

Gurugram, March 17, 2020: Founders of various start-ups, from across the country, have come together under the banner, Founders against COVID-19, and sent out a petition to the Government of India. The petition outlines a specific set of recommendations while seeking strict, swift and decisive action from the Government, both central and state. These recommendations have been carefully put together after analysing the progress of the pandemic globally, keeping in mind the healthcare infrastructure in India and the directives issued by various scientific and medical bodies worldwide.

The recommendations include:

1. Complete lockdown of all major cities, especially those with international airports
2. Explore imposing Section 144 as a measure to implement the above
3. Ban or restrict inter-city travel, including via rail and road
4. Increase testing for COVID-19 exponentially; allow private players to enable the same

To read complete recommendations, click here.

The Founders urged that India needs to carefully, yet quickly, study how various governments have reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting impact. Data shows that countries that acted early on complete lockdowns, e.g. South Korea, Singapore and Japan, were able to “flatten the curve” and bring down cases, compared to those which waited to take precautionary measures, such as Iran, Italy, France and now the USA.

Learnings from the 1918 Flu Pandemic indicate that early lockdowns are directly correlated with lower death rates. Recent surveys on the COVID-19 worldwide outbreak highlight that countries which acted early and strongly are performing much better than those which did not.

Founders against COVID-19, which includes start-ups such as Bounce, Urban Company, Unacademy, Healthium, Red Bus, Snapdeal and various VCs, have come together and appealed to the government. They have petitioned to impose an immediate, short-term lockdown with section 144, across major impacted cities and be prepared for a second lockdown later. This is to seek measures against the probable transmission of the disease.

Below is the complete deck