Looking at my phone in the morning has become an exercise in anxiety management as India’s coronavirus caseload mushrooms. Keeping my inner doomsayer at bay is becoming more difficult as the country of 1.4bn people wholeheartedly embraces the herd immunity model. Contact tracing appears to be flagging, while testing remains limited at a time when hospitals are reporting that they are running out of beds for new patients.

I’m not alone in my apprehension. With India overtaking the UK to have the fourth-highest number of Covid-19 infections globally, 56 per cent of people are feeling anxious and worried, according to a June poll. Faced with a rising death toll and limited treatment options, Indians are turning to alternative medicine to prepare themselves for inevitable exposure.

In some ways, the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has primed them for the shift. Shortly after taking office in 2014, Mr Modi formed the new ministry of Ayush — ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha and homeopathy — to prioritise the development of traditional medicine.