India registers 425 deaths coronavirus-linked deaths while Govt says economy to decline 4.5 per cent due to COVID-19 lockdown
India registered 425 deaths coronavirus-linked deaths in the previous 24 hours, Union Health Ministry data showed Monday morning. Only one country registered more deaths, which is Brazil with 602.
The US, which is worst-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, with nearly 29 lakh infections, was third on that list with 271 deaths.
India’s fatality rate, which is the number of deaths as a percentage of total cases, was 2.8 per cent on Monday morning.
In comparison, the US has a fatality rate of 4.5 per cent and Brazil 4.1 per cent. The global fatality rate stands at 4.7 per cent.
The US, Brazil and India are the three nations most badly affected by the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Besides India’s low fatality rate, there has been a worrying rise in new cases over the past weeks, coinciding with the government’s decision to remove lockdown restrictions in a phased manner.
Late Monday evening India passed the seven lakh-mark in coronavirus cases, with 3,827 new cases taking the total number of cases in the country to 7,01,240.
It took India only four days to move from six lakh cases to seven, with over 20,000 Covid-19 infections reported every day since July 3 and more than 24,000 detected in each of the past two days.
The country’s first case was reported by Kerala in January – a student returning from China’s Wuhan, the original epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic that has infected over 1.14 crore people worldwide.
Within India, Maharashtra remains the worst-hit state with over two lakh cases, including 8,822 deaths. Tamil Nadu is second with 1.11 lakh cases, including 1,510 deaths, and the capital city of Delhi is third with more than 1.01 lakh Covid-19 cases, including 3,115 deaths.
Amid the spike in cases the Indian Council for Medical Research is looking to fast-track Phase I, II human clinical trials for COVAXIN – India’s first coronavirus vaccine candidate.
Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech’s new vaccine is expected to go into Phase I trials next week, with Phase II to follow pending results. More than 1,100 people will be selected for Phase I, II trials, Bharat Biotech said in its application for testing on humans.
The Union Finance Ministry On Monday forecast the economy to decline by 4.5 per cent during the current financial year (2020-21). The latest forecast is 6.4 percentage points lower than what the government had predicted in April this year. The macroeconomic report released by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) of the Finance Ministry said the uncertainty caused by the absence of a vaccine against the coronavirus pandemic poses a “serious challenge” to the economy. The report, however, added that the government’s structural reforms and social welfare measures will help build green shoots in the economy and listed the schemes and measures undertaken during coronavirus.
The report noted that revenue receipts so far in the 2020-21 have declined by 68.9 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
The report also stated that the impact of the virus and the lockdown on exports has been a positive due to a sharp decline in imports and low crude oil prices in the global markets.