It’s really hard to make comparisons between countries, given the wide variability in data collection and reporting.
India’s an interesting case, with millions of really poor people, but a sophisticated industrial base in sections of the country as well. They recognized early on that they couldn’t afford to wait for gold-standard RCT’s and vaccines, they simply don’t have the medical infrastructure for their ordinary needs, let alone a runaway pandemic. And, they admitted that they could not afford extended western-style “lockdowns”, as people would not simply stay home and not work and starve.
They rolled out HCQ as prophylaxis early on, and started treating people at home with cheap combination therapies as well.
They quickly pivoted to ivermectin when initial data out of Australia showed promise.
They were smart, and more importantly, they were actually focused on solutions, rather than making the CCP virus an excuse for grabbing and consolidating political power, as has been happening in the US.
Sounds about right. Especially on that last.