India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh were three South Asian countries that overtook China in terms of the number of coronavirus cases.

In the middle of May, India was the first South Asian country to overtake China in terms of the number of coronavirus cases.

India Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed a joint emergency fund to tackle the pandemic, and pledged to seed US$10 Million.

[3] The outbreak was first identified in Wuhan, Hubei, China, in December 2019 and recognised as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020.

[8][9][11] South Asia is one of the most densely populated regions and having low testing rates, and is considered highly vulnerable to any large scale outbreak of an infectious disease.

[31] By the end of March, strict restrictions on the movement of people and public gatherings were in place in several provinces;[32][33][34][35][36] lockdowns had also been implemented, including in Kabul and Kandahar.

[44] On 22 March, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the king of Bhutan, announced in a national address that the country's land borders would be sealed off.

[49][50] In March, the transmissions grew after several people with travel history to affected countries, and their contacts, tested positive.

[52] On 22 March, the Government of India announced complete lockdown in 82 districts in 22 states and Union Territories of country where confirmed cases were reported.

[59] Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) noted the government's swift and stringent actions, emergency policy-making, emergency investment in health care, fiscal stimulus, and investment in vaccine and drug R&D and gave India a score of 100 for the strict response.

Michael Ryan, chief executive director of the WHO's health emergencies programme noted that India had tremendous capacity to deal with the outbreak owing to its vast experience in eradicating smallpox and polio.

[64] Country also has launched a number of research projects for treatment of disease and development of anti COVID vaccines.

[65] The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have spread to the Maldives on 7 March 2020 from an Italian tourist who had returned to Italy after spending holidays in Kuredu Resort & Spa.

[69] On 27 March, the government announced the first confirmed case of a Maldivian citizen with COVID-19, a passenger who had returned from the United Kingdom.

The virus was confirmed to have reached Pakistan on 26 February 2020, when two cases were recorded (a student in Karachi who had just returned from Iran and another person in the Islamabad Capital Territory).

[85] After the first wave, Pakistan's COVID-19 situation subsided daily new death numbers and testing positivity rates in the country stabilized at low levels.

Islamabad Capital Territory, which is richer than any of Pakistan's provinces, has confirmed 80,300 cases and has seen 745 deaths so far, giving it a higher number of deaths per capita and a higher number of confirmed cases per capita than any Pakistani province, while also having the lowest fatality rate in the country.

[91] A conference call was attended by heads of governments of all member states, except Pakistan which sent the special adviser to the prime minister, on 15 March.

[92] On 15 March 2020, coinciding with the International Consumer Rights Day the emergency fund was proposed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a video conference of SAARC heads of government from New Delhi as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic.

[94] The purpose of this fund is to tackle and mitigate the risks associated with the coronavirus pandemic in the South Asian region.

[102] The SAARC Disaster Management Centre later launched a website for information related to the pandemic in member countries, as proposed by Modi in the conference call.

[103] People in India,[104][105] Pakistan,[106] Bangladesh,[107] and Sri Lanka[105] have been arrested for allegedly spreading false information about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka had a higher decrease in outdoor, open air versatility.

Notwithstanding, for Bangladesh and Pakistan, mobility in the parks didn't lessen that much (around 10-25%) contrasted with other SAARC nations aside from Afghanistan.

The impact of mobility decrease was likewise seen noticeable in air-quality record [109] (in view of particulate issue size 2.5 micrometers, otherwise called AQI PM2.5).

Since a huge extent of PM2.5 can be credited to traffic vehicle's gas and mechanical consuming of fills, this overall decrease of AQI information by implication shows an impact of lockdown in these nations.