In Charts | Economic impact of lockdown on Centre and states

Barclays research in its report on the Indian economy stated that the existing restrictions on movement are causing much more economic damage than anticipated.

Moneycontrol News

April 16, 2020 / 18:19 IST

To combat the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, India extended the shutdown until May 3. The economy is bleeding due to the restrictions in place, which have affected all sectors.

Barclays research in a recent report estimated the economic loss at $234.4 billion (8.1 percent of GDP) from $120 billion estimated earlier. The British research firm revised its 2020 and FY21 GDP growth forecast further down to zero and 0.8 percent from 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent earlier, respectively.

Let’s study the impact of the lockdown on the Indian economy. Barclays expects a higher economic loss due to higher-than-expected output losses in the agriculture, utilities, construction, and wholesale and retail sectors.

More urbanised states to register large economic losses due to the lockdown.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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