Lockdown in India has proven gruelling, but highly effective

Indians appear willing to tolerate the slow unwinding of restrictions, writes Adam Withnall, given it appears to have spared the country a particularly bad outbreak of coronavirus

Women walk in the Noida area near New Delhi (EPA)

Shop by shop, sector by sector, India is inching its way out of arguably the world’s harshest lockdown, and in a manner that can prove frustrating for people on the ground.

No one here disputes the need for care when easing the restrictions that have been in place for more than five weeks – indeed, despite the awful scenes of thousands of migrant workers fleeing cities as the lockdown began, there is broad public support for how the Modi administration has handled the pandemic so far.

In some ways, the imposition of the lockdown was the easiest bit. In order to avoid confusion, it kept restrictions simple, banning leaving the home for any reason other than to buy food or seek medical attention. Yet that simplicity has made the past weeks particularly gruelling, and has many people in big cities like Delhi counting down the days until lockdown ends, currently scheduled for 3 May.