(TibetanReview.net, May06’20) – As India’s graphs of Covid-19 infections and deaths keep snaking upward without showing any sign of flattening, pressure in growing on the government to limit the lockdown to contained or sealed zones where cases had occurred so that the nation’s economic downturn and people’s livelihood hardship could be addressed. Experts have said lockdowns do not eliminate the virus while it is imperative to salvage livelihoods to save lives.
We need to make bigger and bolder breakthroughs towards economic resumption, with the accent shifting from “fighting” Covid to “coping with” or “managing” Covid (since it cannot be entirely eliminated), said an editorial opinion in The Times of India May 4.
India’s unemployment rate surged to 27.11 per cent for the week ended May 3 from the level of 6.74 per cent in the week ended Mar 15, the data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) showed. Unemployment rate had moderated to 21.05 per cent in the previous week (which ended April 26) from 26.19 per cent in the week before, reported Indianexpress.com May 6.
India has the most severe lockdown, first imposed on Mar 24, among all countries and its third spell ends after May 17.
The country reported 2,958 new cases and 126 new deaths during the past 24 hours as of May 6 at 8AM (GMT+5:30), taking their cumulative totals to 49,391 infections and 1,694 deaths, according to the tally of India’s Ministry of Health. India is currently the country with the 15th highest cumulative number of Covid-19 cases and 18th highest number of deaths.
With a total of 14,183 infected persons having recovered, 33,514 cases remain active.
Maharashtra, the worst-hit state by a huge margin, had a cumulative total of 15,525 (+984) cases, followed by Gujarat with 6,245 (+441) cases, Delhi with 5,104 (+206) cases, Tamil Nadu with 4,058 (+508) cases, Rajasthan with 3,158 (+97) cases, Madhya Pradesh with 3,049 (+107) cases, Uttar Pradesh with 2,880 (+114) cases, Andhra Pradesh with 1,717 (+67) cases, Punjab with 1,451 (+218) cases, West Bengal with 1,344 (+85) cases, Telangana with 1,096 (+11) cases, Jammu & Kashmir with 741 (+15) cases, Karnataka with 671 (+20) cases, Haryana with 548 (+31) cases, Bihar with 536 (+8) cases, Kerala with 502 (+2) cases, Odisha, 175 (+6), Jharkhand, 125 (+10), and Chandigarh, 111 (+9).
Other badly hit states/Union Territories were Uttarakhand, 61 (+1); Chattisgarh, 59 (+1), Tripura, 43 (+14), Assam, 43 (+0); Ladakh, 41 (+0); Himachal Pradesh, 42 (+1); Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 33 (+0); and Meghalaya 12 (+0).
Besides, Puducherry (9), Goa (7), Manipur (2), Mizoram (1), Arunachal Pradesh (1), And Dadar Nagar Haveli (1) had reported cases.
Maharashtra also had the most number of deaths at 617 (+33), followed by Gujarat, 368 (+49); Madhya Pradesh, 176 (+11); West Bengal,140 (+7); Rajasthan, 89 (+12); Delhi, 64 (+0); Uttar Pradesh, 56 (+6); Andhra Pradesh, 36 (+0); Tamil Nadu 33 (+2); Telangana, 29 (+0); Karnataka, 29 (+2); Punjab, 25 (+2); Jammu & Kashmir, 8 (+0); Haryana, 6 (+0); Bihar 4 (+0); Kerala, 4 (+0); and Jharkhand, 3 (+0) and HP, 2 (+1). Besides five states, namely Assam, Chandigarh, Meghalaya, Odisha, and Uttarakhand had 1 death each. (Source: https://www.mohfw.gov.in/)
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Across the world the total number of Covid-19 cases had reached 3,677,165 and the deaths 257,454 as of May 6 at 2:02:29 PM (GMT-4), according to the Dashboard maintained by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. There were 78,841 new cases and 5,622 new deaths during the preceding 24 hours across 187 countries and regions.
The countries with the most number of reported cases thus far were US (1,204,475), Spain (219,329) Italy (213,013), UK (196,243), France (170,694), Germany (167,007), Russia (165,929), Turkey (129,491), Brazil (115,953), Iran (99,970), and China (83,968).
The countries with the most number of deaths were US (71,078), UK (29,501), Italy (29,315), Spain (25,613), France (25,538), Belgium (8,016), Brazil (7,958), Germany (6,993), Iran (6,340), Netherlands (5,185) and China (4,637).
