Even as new COVID-19 infections have shown a declining trend, credit rating agency
Crisil on Monday said it is too early to say that the second wave of the pandemic has peaked and flagged concerns over the vaccination drive. After opening up the vaccination for all adults, the drive has suffered because availability of vaccines has become a national bottleneck , the rating agency said in a report.
It said new cases touched 4.14 lakh on May 6, and have now declined to an average of 3.6 lakh a day for the week ended May 16.
The decline in new cases offers some respite, but, it s too early to call a peak , the report noted.
India s Covid-19 curve turns as business activity dips to June 2020 levels
SECTIONS
Share
Synopsis
Daily cases fell 15% sequentially for the week ended May 16, as major affected states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh reported fewer new infections, according to Crisil.
Agencies
Along with mobility, other economic indicators have worsened in May as the unemployment rate jumped to 14.4% from 8.7% a week earlier while power consumption fell by about 4% for the fourth consecutive week, according to Nomura.
India’s Covid-19 curve has turned for the first time since the second wave began to take over the country as increasing lockdown restrictions appear to have moderated caseloads although improvements have come at the cost of mobility and economic activity.
URL copied
Second wave of COVID-19 to impact blue-collar, gig jobs : Report
The second wave of the pandemic in the country is likely to have a short-term setback mostly affecting the blue-collar jobs and the gig or temporary workers especially in the retail, hospitality, aviation and construction industry, according to a report. As India s economy tried regaining its footing earlier this year, the number of job opportunities rose 32 per cent during January-March 2021 as compared to the preceding December quarter, hinting towards an economic revival in the country, the report by global recruitment specialist Michael Page said.
However, it stated that in the ongoing second wave of the pandemic (April and May 2021), India is witnessing a decline in the economic activity owing to the localised lockdowns, but the impact on the economy is unlikely to be as devastating as in 2020.