How cities are combating Covid-19

20 Apr 2020 CW Staff

Not surprisingly, cities with robust governance and health infrastructure in place are in a better position to manage pandemics and lower case fatality rates (CFR) and excess mortality than those that do not. Adopting a combination of proactive surveillance, routine communication, rapid isolation and personal and community protection (e.g. social distancing) measures is critical.

In India, Kerala’s attempts to tackle the disease have won the state government praise from other states and countries. The rest of India, including the Centre, would do well to learn from Kerala’s epidemic management efforts so far in the Covid-19 pandemic.

In view of this, The Smart Cities Council India (SCCI) is organizing a webinar on ‘How Asian Cities are coping with Covid-19: Lessons from Asian Cities’ on April 23, 2020.

The session will be moderated by Pratap Padode, Founder and Director, Smart Cities Council India. Panelists include: Kok-Chin Tay (KC), Chairman, Smart Cities Network; Vikash Chandra, Smart City & PPP Expert, Smart Cities Mission; Manojit Bose, Smart City Expert, Smart City Pune; Yudhistira Nugraha, Head, Jakarta Smart City Office; and Dr Sunil Dubey, Adjunct Faculty - University of Sydney, Institutional Advisor - Urban Innovation & Smart Cities.

When it comes to disease upsurge, cities are a big part of the issue. Today, approximately 4 billion people live in cities, which is roughly over half of the world's population. It is not just global cities that are a risk of Covid-19, but also secondary cities and relatively smaller urban hubs as well. Cities also play a central role in preparing for mitigating and adapting to pandemics. While the worst-hit countries are western Europe and the US, the numbers even in the Asian cities are increasing day by day. Not surprisingly, cities with robust governance and health infrastructure in place are in a better position to manage pandemics and lower case fatality rates (CFR) and excess mortality than those that do not. Adopting a combination of proactive surveillance, routine communication, rapid isolation and personal and community protection (e.g. social distancing) measures is critical. In India, Kerala’s attempts to tackle the disease have won the state government praise from other states and countries. The rest of India, including the Centre, would do well to learn from Kerala’s epidemic management efforts so far in the Covid-19 pandemic. In view of this, The Smart Cities Council India (SCCI) is organizing a webinar on ‘How Asian Cities are coping with Covid-19: Lessons from Asian Cities’ on April 23, 2020. The session will be moderated by Pratap Padode, Founder and Director, Smart Cities Council India. Panelists include: Kok-Chin Tay (KC), Chairman, Smart Cities Network; Vikash Chandra, Smart City & PPP Expert, Smart Cities Mission; Manojit Bose, Smart City Expert, Smart City Pune; Yudhistira Nugraha, Head, Jakarta Smart City Office; and Dr Sunil Dubey, Adjunct Faculty - University of Sydney, Institutional Advisor - Urban Innovation & Smart Cities.Register Now!

Infrastructure Transport

12 Dec 2025

Railways Boosts Cyber Security And Fairness In Ticket Bookings

Indian Railways has said its reservation ticketing system is a robust and highly secure IT platform equipped with state-of-the-art cyber security measures. The national transporter has introduced several initiatives to enhance system performance and improve access to regular and tatkal tickets. A key step has been the large-scale revalidation and verification of user accounts. Since January 2025, around 30.2 million suspicious user IDs have been deactivated. Anti-bot tools such as Akamai have been deployed to filter non-genuine users, ensuring smoother booking for legitimate passengers. To c..

Infrastructure Transport

12 Dec 2025

Indian Railways Speeds Up Green Transition With Wider Electrification

Indian Railways is accelerating its modernisation drive by upgrading infrastructure and rolling stock with advanced technologies aimed at enhancing safety, punctuality, reliability and passenger comfort. A major focus of this effort is the transition to cleaner traction systems, with a significant reduction in the use of coal-based and diesel engines. Electrification has been taken up in mission mode. As of now, 99.2 per cent of the Broad Gauge (BG) network has been electrified, with the remaining routes under execution. During 2014–25, Railways electrified 46,900 route kilometres, compared..

Infrastructure Energy

12 Dec 2025

Centre Strengthens Cybersecurity Framework Across India’s Power Sector

The POWERGRID Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Cybersecurity has been established at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru to advance research and development in cybersecurity for power grid operations and transmission systems. The initiative is part of India’s broader effort to build a resilient and secure power ecosystem. To strengthen cyber readiness across the sector, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) issued the Cyber Security in Power Sector Guidelines, 2021, creating a comprehensive cyber assurance framework and governance structure for all power entities. Further, the ..