If the current restrictions remain in place until May-end, the cumulative loss of economic and commercial activity could be around USD 10.5 billion or around 34 bps of nominal GDP, British brokerage Barclays said.

India’s daily new cases continue to rise. A total of 1,61,736 new cases were registered in a span of 24 hours.

Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 51,751. It is followed by Uttar Pradesh with 13,604 while Chhattisgarh reported 13,576 new cases.

Pharma major Dr Reddy’s on Tuesday said it has received regulatory approval for emergency use of Sputnik V, which will be imported from Russia, paving the way for the third COVID vaccine in India.Vaccines authorised by the World Health Organization or authorities in the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom and Japan “may be granted emergency use approval in India, mandating the requirement of post-approval parallel bridging clinical trial”, the health ministry said in a statement.

“The first 100 beneficiaries of such foreign vaccines shall be assessed for seven days for safety outcomes before they are rolled out,” it said.

“Sputnik V” is being marketed in India by Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, which has helped run a small trial for the drug in the country to test its safety and ability to generate an immune response.

‘The younger population goes out for work, uses public transportation and hence, there are more chances of coming into contact with others. Many people are still not wearing masks or maintaining social distancing, which has contributed to the rise in cases,” said Suranjit Chatterjee, a senior consultant at Apollo Hospitals here.

“One month (of lockdown) is equivalent to about $5 billion of revenue for retailers from just Maharashtra,” Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO of the Retailers Association of India, told Reuters. “We are talking about 1.2 million stores and 5 million jobs.”

Rajagopalan said store shutdowns will hit sectors such as manufacturing, distribution and banking and have a snowball effect on the economy.