India will be worst-affected among the world’s major economies even after Covid-19 wanes, with output 12% below pre-pandemic levels through the middle of the decade, says a report by global forecasting firm Oxford Economics.
Balance sheet stress that had been building even before the Covid-19 outbreak is likely to worsen further, Priyanka Kishore, head of economics for South Asia and South-East Asia, writes in the report. She projects potential growth for India at 4.5% over the next five years, lower than 6.5% before the pandemic hit the world.
“It’s likely that headwinds already hampering growth prior to 2020—such as stressed corporate balance sheets, elevated non-performing assets of banks, the fallout in non-bank financial companies, and labor market weakness—will worsen,” Priyanka states, adding: “The resulting long-term scars, probably among the worst globally, would push India’s trend growth substantially lower from pre-Covid levels.”
Meanwhile, with 45,576 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours on Thursday, India witnessed a jump of over 50% in such cases reported on Tuesday, pushing its cumulative tally to 89,58,483. As per Health Ministry data, the total death toll rose to 1,31,578 with 585 more fatalities in the last 24 hours, a jump of over 24% from Wednesday’s figures. Up to 4.43 lakh active cases remain in the country till Thursday.
Total death toll in the national capital has crossed the 8,000-barrier. On Thursday, Delhi recorded 7546 fresh Covid cases along with 98 deaths. The numbers take Delhi’s total cases to 5,10,603, with the death toll being at 8041. There are 43,221 active cases in the national capital.
Mumbai reported 924 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, taking its tally to 2,72,449, while 1,192 more patients were discharged from hospitals following recovery, said the city civic body. This was the highest daily count so far this week. Cases have registered a steady rise after 409 new coronavirus patients were detected on 16 November, the lowest daily count since April.
Telangana reported 1,058 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the tally to over 2.6 lakh, while four fatalities pushed the toll to 1,419, said the state government. As many as 12,682 patients are under treatment. The case fatality rate in the state was 0.54%, while it was 1.5% at the national level. The recovery rate in Telangana was 94.59%.
The Union Health Ministry on Thursday said that Delhi accounted for 22.39% of the Covid-19 fatalities reported across India in the span of 24 hours. The national capital recorded 131 deaths and became the largest single-day contributor to coronavirus deaths in India on Wednesday.
The Ministry said that 79.49% of the 585 Covid fatalities reported in a span of 24 hours on Wednesday were from 10 states and Union territories – Delhi, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Maharashtra also saw a three-digit fatality count of 100, while West Bengal reported 54 new deaths.
Seeing the deteriorating health condition in the state, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called for a high-level meeting which included the Coronavirus nodal officer, state Congress chief Anil Chaudhary and state BJP chief Adesh Gupta. Post-meeting, Kejriwal announced that the fine for not wearing a mask in public would be increased from Rs 500 to Rs 2000 in Delhi.
Appealing to citizens to not take the customary dip in Delhi’s water bodies during Chhath Puja, CM Arvind Kejriwal said that his government has directed the raising of non-ICU bed reservations at private hospitals in the city from 50% to 60% for coronavirus patients. He added, “The decision to reserve 80% ICU beds in private hospitals for Covid-19 patients has been implemented starting Thursday.”
Aam Aadmi Party MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj said that the number of RT-PCR tests will be enhanced from 18,000 to 27,000 daily in Delhi. CM Kejriwal, who previously deliberated over shutting markets to curb the spread of the virus, took the decision to shut markets that may prove to be hotbeds of infection.
With agency inputs
