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COVID-19: Finance Ministry not in favour of nationwide lockdown despite second wave – Moneycontrol.com

India’s second wave has seen new peaks in daily cases, deaths and active cases with the country recording 4,187 deaths in the last 24 hours and 4,01,078 fresh COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours.

A resident doctor treating patients suffering from COVID-19, writes down notes during his 27-hour shift at Holy Family Hospital in New Delhi on May 1, 2021. (Image: Reuters/Danish Siddiqui)

Amid surging COVID-19 cases in India, the Finance Ministry on May 7 indicated that it is not in favour of a national lockdown to curb the pandemic, citing global experience of handling the second wave of COVID-19.

“Global experience also suggests that economic impacts from subsequent waves are smaller than from the first as economies learn to ‘operate with COVID’. The increased coverage of population under vaccination has been effective both in controlling the spread of COVID and boosting mobility,” the Finance Ministry said.

Meanwhile, India’s second wave has seen new peaks in daily cases, deaths and active cases with the country recording 4,187 deaths in the last 24 hours and 4,01,078 fresh COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours.

Earlier this month, Top US epidemiologist Anthony Fauci suggested a lockdown for a few weeks in India as an immediate step to contain the spread of the coronavirus as its deadly second wave shows no signs of ebbing.

Fauci said another important thing to be done immediately is to get supplies of oxygen, medication and PPEs.

He said looking at the magnitude of the crisis, India should look at putting together a crisis group that would meet and start getting things organised.

“I think the most important thing in the immediate is to get oxygen, get supplies, get medication, get PPE, those kinds of things but also, one of the immediate things to do is to essentially call a shutdown of the country,” said Fauci, who is the chief medical adviser to the Joe Biden’s administration.

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