India extends coronavirus lockdown but eases restrictions in certain sectors
Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
Stranded migrant workers and their families waiting to be thermally screened before taking a train from Amritsar to their hometowns in Bihar state yesterday. The movement of millions of migrant workers from the cities where they had jobs to their homes in rural villages - and their reluctance to return - is one of the key challenges for the Indian economy.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Follow topic:
NEW DELHI • India has extended its nationwide lockdown until May 31, while further easing restrictions in certain sectors to boost economic activity as coronavirus cases escalate across the country.
Sports complexes and stadiums can now open but without spectators and inter-state travel will be allowed with permits, the home ministry said yesterday evening. Public transport, along with malls, cinemas, schools, gymnasiums and tourist spots will remain closed.
The government is hoping to ease the economic impact of the world's biggest lockdown, which has crippled business activity and left millions jobless.
The announcement followed Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's fifth briefing in as many days, in which she outlined details of a US$265 billion (S$378 billion) virus rescue package, which is equivalent to 10 per cent of India's gross domestic product. Almost half of this comprises monetary steps announced since February.
Infections are surging across the South Asian nation of 1.3 billion people, with more than 91,300 infections, including 2,897 deaths as of yesterday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
India has now reported more cases than China, where the virus first emerged late last year, although its number of deaths so far is much lower than China's 4,600. The death toll in the United States and some European countries is much higher.
India has been under a stringent lockdown since March 25, even though some curbs were eased on April 20 to allow farmers and industries to resume operations in rural areas and in districts that were free of infections.
The lockdown was scheduled to end yesterday, and the extension came days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said people must fight the coronavirus pandemic and move forward.
Still, companies are facing difficulties reopening factories - primarily because of travel curbs, conflicting rules, broken supply chains and a shortage of workers.
The movement of millions of migrant workers from the cities where they had jobs to their homes in rural villages - and their reluctance to return - is one of the key challenges for the economy, which could be heading for its first full-year contraction in more than four decades.
A poll of purchasing managers at factories released on May 6 signalled the steepest fall in activity last month since IHS Markit began compiling the data, while the country's factory output shrank 16.7 per cent in March.
BLOOMBERG
