Though India is in the middle of a second wave of COVID-19 infections, with a new peak of over 1 lakh cases reported on Sunday, the Finance Ministry stressed on Monday that the country had been able to delay the onset of the second wave and was well armed to cope with downside risks to the economy.
“The gap between the first peak to start of the second wave has been 151 days in India, while it was much lower in other countries. This implies the readiness of the health infrastructure and awareness of the standard operating protocols at this time,” the Ministry said in its monthly economic report for March.
Five-fold strategy
“India is emphasising on a five-fold strategy to curb the tide of new cases — exponential increase in testing, effective isolation and contact tracing of those infected, reinvigoration of public and private healthcare resources, ensuring of COVID-appropriate behaviour and targeted approach to vaccination in districts reporting large numbers,” the report said, adding that a fast vaccine roll-out would bolster the battle against the virus. “Despite the surge in cases, the recovery in economy is resilient with sustained improvement in a majority of high-frequency indicators,” noted the Department of Economic Affairs report.
Predicting a strong revival in investment growth supported by the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Mission and the infrastructure and capital expenditure impetus provided in the Union Budget for 2021-22, the report said, “The wheels of India’s capex cycle have been set into motion, signs of which were imminent in the second half of the year.”
