Even as new COVID-19 infections have shown a declining trend, Credit rating agency Crisil in its latest report has said that it is ‘too early’ to say that the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic has peaked and flagged concerns over the vaccination drive. It also acknowledged that the new cases have fallen without a dip in testing numbers. It said new cases touched 4.14 lakh on May 6, and have now declined to an average of 3.6 lakh a day for the week ended May 16.
According to the report, while vaccination was opened to all adults two weeks back to battle the fierce second wave, vaccine availability has become a national bottleneck. As a result of this, it said some states have announced a temporary halt to their vaccination drive for the 18-44 age group and prioritised those in the 45 plus bracket, especially the second doses.
On the economic front, the agency said high-frequency indicators have continued to soften and the mobility indicators, in particular, have fallen to June 2020 level.