As the COVID-19 pandemic causes unprecedented disruptions in citizens' lives and work, prompting a wide range of responses from governments across the globe. The southern Indian state of Kerala, India's COVID-19 “ground zero”, stands out with a fatality rate at a fraction of other richer Indian states and countries. This has happened despite the state presenting strong vulnerabilities to COVID-19. Using the theoretical lens of frugal innovation, I analyse how the Kerala State Government (KSG) combated the spread of COVID-19. This research uncovers the mechanisms at play as KSG implemented and used frugal technologies as platforms that helped decision making and strategy to fight the pandemic. I find a rich interplay of frugal innovations promoted by the government, in partnership with research institutes and private sector actors, which are cheap and efficacious. The study defines and promotes the concept of government frugal innovation (GFI) and provides valuable insights and tools to help governments navigate and effectively respond to this crisis, encouraging the rest of the world to learn from Kerala's experience. My conceptual model characterizes GFI as involving collaborative aspects, and holds practical implications beyond the times of crises.

由于COVID-19大流行导致公民生活和工作受到前所未有的破坏，因此引发了全球各国政府的广泛回应。印度南部的喀拉拉邦，即印度的COVID-19“零地面”，其致死率仅是其他较富裕的印度邦和国家的一小部分。尽管该状态对COVID-19表现出了严重的漏洞，但还是发生了这种情况。使用节俭创新的理论视角，我分析了喀拉拉邦政府（KSG）如何抵抗COVID-19的传播。这项研究揭示了KSG实施节俭技术并将节俭技术用作帮助应对流感大流行的决策和策略的平台的机制。我发现政府与研究机构和私营部门参与者合作，推动了节俭创新的广泛互动，便宜又有效。该研究定义并推广了政府节俭创新（GFI）的概念，并提供了宝贵的见解和工具来帮助政府应对和有效应对这一危机，并鼓励世界其他地方从喀拉拉邦的经验中学习。我的概念模型将GFI的特征描述为涉及协作方面，并在危机时期之外具有实际意义。