India now second worst-hit country by Covid-19 pandemic
India's case tally has surpassed that of Brazil, becoming the second-worst impacted nation by the Covid-19 pandemic behind only the United States.
India has added nearly half a million new Covid-19 cases over one week as the country's caseload exceeded 4.2 million infections, surpassing Brazil's tally to make the Asian giant second on the list of the worst-hit nations during the pandemic behind only the US.
India has witnessed very sharp and uncontrollable spikes in cases across various states over the past week despite the improvement of both recovery and fatality rates. The world's second-most populous country of 1.3 billion inhabitants has been reporting record-high new daily infections for several days with more than 90,000 new confirmed cases reported on Monday alone.
India surge "was unavoidable"
In view of the surging cases and the tough situation India's hospitals are encountering, T. Jacob John, a prominent virologist and former professor at the Christian Medical College in Vellore said “The surge was unavoidable. It was always going to be an avalanche and the avalanche has not hit the ground yet,”
He also noted that the number of cases will continue to rise in a country with extremely congested cities.
Amid the rising cases and the stagnant economy, India has commenced Unlock 4 as of the beginning of September in an attempt to revive the economy by permitting many businesses to re-open in addition to subway trains that are now running again after a five-month stoppage.
“While lives are important, livelihoods are equally important"
In regard to the administration's decision to lift further restrictions despite increasing cases, Rajesh Bhushan, the top official of India’s Federal Health Ministry said at a news briefing last week., “While lives are important, livelihoods are equally important".
According to estimates by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, some 19 million jobs have been lost since the first lockdown was imposed back In March.