By Dr Nitin Pandey
Dehradun, 7 Aug: Friday saw a surge in both the number of active cases and recovered cases, 62,538 new cases and 49,769 recoveries causing an increase in the number of active cases by 11,883 only. An increase of eleven thousand something in a country of 1.3 billion people is not something which would make me worry. The maximum increase in India was in Maharashtra, of 11,514 new cases but it was almost equally matched by recoveries which stood at 10,854. Andjra Pradesh, Karnataka, TN and UP also registered rises, all with almost matching recoveries. As I’ve been repeatedly saying, the absolute figures will increase, simply because we are the most populous Nation on Earth, besides China, and perhaps one day we may even have the maximum total number of cases in the world but it’s the relative figures which tell the actual situation on the ground and are more important than absolute numbers.
What should worry us more, however, on a National level is the damage done to the economy, with economic recovery slowed down by erratic, often impromptu lockdowns in different states on different dates and the devastating floods in Bihar and WB. Paranoia about Coronavirus, fueled by the media, makes recovery more difficult. World Bank estimates that India’s GDP will record a negative growth of 3.2%, while IMF puts it at – 4.5%. We may take years to recover from this economic contraction. Millions of Indians suffer silently from decreased inflow of money.
Uttarakhand had good news again, with the number of recoveries (304) exceeding the number of fresh cases (278). Also, 96 new positive cases had no history, so once again the local spread was just 33%. Number of pending cases again climbed to 9498, a very worrying aspect. Dehradun had just 21 new cases, none of them had any positive history. Unfortunately, there were 10 deaths in Uttarakhand, four in Dehradun and three each in Rishikesh and Haldwani.
A short reminder at the end. The safest place in this type of Pandemic is outdoors, with fresh blowing air and social distancing. The worst place to be in is a closed, air conditioned room full of loudly speaking people.
(Dr Nitin Pandey is a Dehradun based ex Indian Air Force doctor, a Pediatrician and an active Social worker.)
