India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who last year imposed a strict blockade, urged states to avoid closing down businesses as the South Asian nation faces a new wave of Covid-19 infections that threaten a nascent economic renaissance.
The nation of South Asia is now the second most affected country in the world, remaining only in the US, after reporting over 200,000 new infections daily in the last six days.
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“I urge states to consider the blockades as a last resort,” Modi said in a televised address late Tuesday. “They should seriously try to avoid blockages and focus on microcontainment areas.”
As infections grow, the country’s health system has been pushed to a climax, with hospitals reporting shortages of everything from intensive care beds to medical oxygen. New rising cases have forced both India’s financial and political capitals to impose traffic restrictions, with New Delhi imposing a six-day closure on Tuesday.
In images reminiscent of India’s first strict blockade in late March last year, where hundreds of thousands of workers fled cities, thousands flocked to Delhi bus terminals earlier this week, trying to get home. after their income suddenly dry with the new blockage.
Meanwhile, at least six of India’s 30 chief ministers, two federal ministers and opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, have tested positive for the virus in recent days.
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The nation’s benchmark stock index fell to its lowest level since Tuesday in late January, and the rupee is Asia’s weakest currency this month, with India becoming the epicenter of the new outbreak.
In February, the central bank said it expects to the economy will grow by 10.5% in the year that began on April 1, after an estimated contraction of 7.7% in the last 12 months.
Relatives of a Covid-19 death wearing PPE are consoling each other while attending a funeral in New Delhi on April 19.
Photographer: T. Narayan / Bloomberg
The renewed blockades will cost the country 1% of gross value added in the April-June quarter and more if they are replicated by other states, according to HSBC Holdings Plc estimates. Meanwhile, public finances will be affected by rising demand for social security programs, lower tax revenues and uncertainty over asset sales, HSBC economist Pranjul Bhandari wrote in a note released on Tuesday.
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Modi also said that his government is working with states and companies to increase the supply of medical oxygen and crucial medicines needed to fight the pandemic.
– With the assistance of Bibhudatta Pradhan and Upmanyu Trivedi
(Updates with the exodus of workers in the fifth paragraph)