India Covid-19 crisis infographic
Graphic shows Covid-19 cases and fatalities across India as at April 15, 2020.
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HEALTH

India’s accelerating COVID-19 crisis

By Jordi Bou

April 15, 2020 - The coronavirus crisis in India risks overwhelming India’s fragile health care system and dramatically thwarting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attempts to reinvigorate the economy.

Sharp downward revisions to economic growth forecasts in the wake of the pandemic point towards surging unemployment, but Modi urged Indians to maintain the discipline shown in the first three weeks of the lockdown.

Hundreds of thousands fled the big cities for their homes in the hinterland when Modi announced the lockdown last month, many walking great distances with their families on empty highways.

Although the numbers are small compared with some Western nations, health experts fear that is because of India’s low levels of testing and that actual infection levels could be far higher.

The true number of cases, however, may be much higher, given that India had only conducted 195,748 tests for COVID-19 for its 1.4 billion people as of April 12.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 16/04/2020; STORY: Graphic News
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