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Health

One year since lockdown: India still recovering from unemployment blow

The data showed that the unemployment rate had peaked to 23.5 per cent in April and remained at 21.7 per cent in May. It started tapering off from June onward when it was recorded at 10.2 per cent in the month and further improved to 7.4 per cent in July.

However, the unemployment rate again rose slightly to 8.3 in August and improved to 6.7 per cent in September last year, as per CMIE data.

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India delays big exports of AstraZeneca shot, including to COVAX, as infections surge

“We understand that deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines to lower-income economies participating in the COVAX facility will likely face delays following a setback in securing export licences for further doses of COVID-19 vaccines produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII), expected to be shipped in March and April,” UNICEF said in an email. “COVAX is in talks with the Government of India with a view to ensuring deliveries as quickly as possible.”

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Companies need to prepare for more political disturbances and violence ahead: Allianz

Causing physical damage, business interruption or loss of revenues, civil unrest incidents are becoming a more significant risk for companies in the current environment, as reflected in the findings of the Allianz Risk Barometer 2021.”Civil unrest has soared, driven by protests on issues ranging from economic hardship to police brutality which have affected citizens around the world. And the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is making things worse – with little sign of an end to the economic downturn in sight, the number of protests is likely to continue climbing.”

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Women ‘systematically excluded’ from COVID response, despite being worst affected

The data reveals that of 225 COVID-19 task forces up and running across 137 countries, only 24 per cent of members were women.

“Women have been on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response…however, they have been systematically excluded from the decision-making processes on how to address the impacts of the pandemic”, said UNDP chief Achim Steiner

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India reports 40,715 fresh COVID-19 cases, 199 deaths in last 24 hours

Six states — Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu — collectively account for 80.90 per cent of the 40,715 infections reported in a span of 24 hours.
The doubling time of COVID-19 cases in India has decreased from 504.4 days on March 1 to 202.3 days on March 23, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday, highlighting that six states have reported a surge in daily new cases and together account for 80.90 per cent of the new infections reported in a day.

Meanwhile, more than 32.53 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered on March 22, which is the highest single-day vaccination so far, taking the total number of people inoculated to over 4.8 crore.

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India’s rising coronavirus cases risk denting economic recovery

“There is a restless urgency in the air in India to resume high growth, and incoming data point to even contact-intensive services such as personal care, recreation and hospitality gathering traction,” central bankers led by Deputy Governor Michael Debabrata Patra wrote in the Reserve Bank of India’s latest monthly bulletin. But “another outbreak, more lockdowns and restraints, will get unbearable in spite of learning from the initial experience of living with the virus.

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