2nd Wave Of Covid 19: India Caught Unaware!

The IMF's optimistic expectations about India's growth recovery disappointingly have come to a screeching halt with the sharp spike in covid-19 cases across the nation. However, the pattern is not unexpected as such a potentially deadly spread has already been witnessed in countries abroad and the lessons not learned, unfortunately. Also the chief economist at IMF, Dr. Gita Gopinath very neatly cautioned way back in December 2020 on the IMF portal and in various media repeatedly that the successful recovery of any virus inflicted country depends on how fast countries win their war against the virus – there is a clear trade-off between containing virus spread and possible potentially more deadly mutations the way we are experiencing now and the much needed economic recovery. In a similar vein, India's former RBI Governor, Dr. Raghuram Rajan convincingly argued in an interview with Bloomberg that anybody paying attention to what was happening in the rest of the world, say in Brazil, for example, should have recognized the virus does come back and potentially in more virulent forms.

Covid 2nd Wave: The biggest cataclysm to have struck the country in living memory

An unprecedented rise in Covid19 cases is likely to slow down India's economic recovery and prospects of large industrial houses in general, but can further wreak havoc with the small, medium, and micro enterprises apart from yet to recover migrant labor from last year virus backlash. The 2 waves in India has proved far more deadly than the first wave as the cases and deaths continue to rise at an unprecedented rate with erratic semi and full lockdowns much to the distress of the unorganized SME sector.

India Posts Highest Single Day Deaths: Awful Complacency & lack of foresight

The country has been reporting over 3 lakh daily cases for 13straight days. In comparison, India had not reported even 1 lakh daily cases during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020. On Friday day, August 8 2021 India reported 4, 187 new deaths - the highest fatalities in a single day, according to official sources. The virus has claimed 238,270 lives so far in the South Asian country. A total of 401,078 new cases were recorded on Friday, the third consecutive day with over 400,000 infections and the 17 days with over 300,000 infections, pushing the tally to 21.9 million.

Shortage of key healthcare facilities, medical oxygen, beds, and critical drugs have made the situation worse during the second wave, and reports further suggest that just before the Covid wave hit India, ICU beds declined by 46 percent, and medical oxygen by 36 percent – pointing to a drastic fall in country's health infrastructure at a time when it is badly needed.