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Asia

Indian industry body urges curbs to

economic activity to save lives

COVID-19 patients receive oxygen outside a Gurdwara, a Sikh house of worship, in New Delhi, India, on May 1,
2021. (Photo: AP/Amit Sharma

NEW DELHI: A leading Indian industry body urged authorities to take the "strongest
national steps" and to curtail economic activity to save lives on Sunday (May 2) as
the country battles surging coronavirus cases that have overwhelmed the healthcare
system.

The rate of new infections dipped marginally but deaths kept climbing. Authorities
reported 392,488 new cases in the previous 24 hours, pushing total cases to 19.56
million. Deaths jumped by a record 3,689 (/news/asia/india-covid-19-cases-death-
toll-record-lockdown-14731580), taking the overall toll to 215,542.

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 Billionaire Uday Kotak, managing director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, said a "maximal
response measure at the highest level is called for to cut the transmission links", as
building healthcare infrastructure will take time.

He was speaking on behalf of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), where he is

the president.

"At this critical juncture when toll of lives is rising, CII urges the strongest national
steps including curtailing economic activity to reduce suffering,” Kotak said in a
statement.

Hospitals have filled to capacity, medical oxygen supplies have run short and
morgues and crematoriums have been swamped as the country deals with the surge
in cases: more than 300,000 daily cases for more than 10 days straight.

Concerned about the economic impact of Advertisement

shutting down the economy, Prime

Minister Narendra Modi's government is
reluctant to impose a national lockdown.
At least 11 states and union territories have
imposed some form of restrictions.

► READ: COVID-19: Indian court

urges government action as hospitals
cry help (/news/asia/india-covid-19-
hospitals-delhi-high-court-

03 May 2021 02:10AM

government-officials-14731278?
(Updated: 03 May 2021 06:40AM) cid=h3_referral_inarticlelinks_24082018_cna)

(https://v1.addthis.com/live/redirect/?
The Indian Express newspaper reported on Sunday that the country's COVID-19
url=mailto%3A%3Fbody%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.channelnewsasia.com%252Fnews%252Fasia%252Findia-
taskforce has advised the federal government to impose a national lockdown.
industry-
body- The eastern state of Odisha and northern industrial state Haryana became the latest
curbs-
to announce new lockdowns on Sunday, joining Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka and
economic-
West Bengal.
activity-
covid-
19- Other states, including Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and
Rajasthan have either imposed night curfews or weekend lockdowns.
14733742%2523.YI84jZlW0iY.mailto%26subject%3DIndian%2520industry%2520body%2520urges%2520curbs%2520to%2520economic%
5e0028e53cd1fd98&rev=v8.28.8-
wp&per=undefined&pco=tbx-
LOCKDOWN FEARS
300)
Bookmark Modi said last month all efforts should be made be avoid a lockdown. He imposed
strict curbs on movement and social and economic activity last year in the early
months of the pandemic and economic output fell a record 24 per cent in April-June
2020 compared with the same period a year earlier.

The current devastating second wave has also led to a shortfall in medical staff.
Kotak also said healthcare workers may not be able to tackle the influx of patients,
given the escalating caseloads, and they need reinforcing.

International aid has been pouring in.

► READ: India government ignored warnings on COVID-19 virus variant,
scientists say (/news/asia/covid-19-india-government-ignored-
warnings-virus-variant-14724902?
cid=h3_referral_inarticlelinks_24082018_cna)

Countries including United States have shipped in critical oxygen equipment,

therapeutics and raw materials for vaccine production. On Sunday, British Foreign
Secretary Dominic Raab said his country would send more ventilators
(/news/britain-to-send-1-000-more-ventilators-to-india-covid-19-14733472)
"very shortly".

Modi's government has been criticised for not taking steps earlier to curb the spread
and for letting millions of largely unmasked people attend religious festivals and
crowded political rallies in five states during March and April.

Reuters reported on Saturday that a forum of scientific advisers set up by the

government warned Indian officials in early March of a new and more contagious
variant of the coronavirus taking hold in the country.

► BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus

outbreak and its developments
(https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/topics/coronavirus-covid-19?
cid=h3_referral_inarticlelinks_24082018_cna)

Download our app (http://cna.asia/app) or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the

latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram
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Source:
Reuters/ec

Tagged Topics
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India (https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/topic/india)

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curbs-
economic-
activity-
covid-
19-
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