India Extends Lockdown For 4th Time As New Cases, Deaths Climb To Record Highs: Virus Updates

Summary:

• India extends lockdown for 4th time
• India reports record jump in new cases
• Global cases pass 6 million
• Russia reports highest daily case tally in a week as lockdown eases
• CDC admits antibody tests extremely unreliable
• Brazil now has fifth-highest death toll, pushing aside Spain, with ~28k deaths
• UK PM BoJo to start easing lockdown measures Monday
• US economic data paints a mixed picture of recovery

* * *

With Americans fixated on the civil unrest spreading to dozens of cities around the country following the latest officer-involved killing of an unarmed black man, the CDC has released some alarming conclusions about the antibody tests that are being rolled out by states as part of sprawling surveillance efforts to try and stop a second wave of COVID-19.

As the global coronavirus case count passes 6 million, Indian PM Narendra Modi announced on Saturday that he would once again be extending a restrictive lockdown that has helped keep the number of confirmed cases in the world’s second-largest country to just ~150k. A recent uptick in new cases prompted the decision – which some Indians are calling “Lockdown 5”, given that it’s the fourth extension.

A paper published just yesterday by a team of analysts at Goldman Sachs shows how India’s easing – moderate though it was – has seemingly led to a rebound in new cases. This underlines two themes: 1) that the strict lockdown imposed by Modi – which is broadly popular even if it has left many disillusioned – appears to have been effective…and the notion that many Indians are still afraid to venture back out into society.

Case in point: electricity generation tumbled again the week before last…

…and mobility and other activity indicators remain weak…

…even as lockdown measures have eased across the country.

Source: GS

According to the FT, the new timeline will allow restaurants, hotels, malls and places of worship to open from June 8 as it looks to resume economic activity despite the country’s rising coronavirus caseload.

Though some reopening measures have been introduced around India in recent weeks, the government said Saturday that strict lockdown measures will remain in effect in designated “containment zones” – neighborhoods where the virus is said to be especially prevalent.

Widespread rioting is the latest obstacle for the US economy. At this point, every state has at least started the process of reopening their economies, even as the number of cases reported daily continues to rise in some (though the gulf between the worst-hit states and virtually every other state remains vast).

With a headline trumpeting more promising “green shoots” now that the nadir of what one analyst called “our 2 month recession” has supposedly been reached, the FT heralded data showing an increase in traffic and a fall in panic purchases at US supermarkets as “signs that Americans are taking their first cautious steps back to normality after coronavirus flatlined the economy.”

However, economic data released over the last few days offer a decidedly more mixed picture. As a plunge in private wages continues to crimp spending, traumatized Americans are putting more money aside, and a recent gauge of consumer sentiment suggests that while most Americans believe the economy will continue to improve, they expect economic conditions, broadly speaking, will remain “unfavorable” in the coming year.

Brussels’ unelected bureaucrats bristle at accusations they are “out of touch” with the common man, but on Saturday, as some of America’s largest cities burned, the EU leadership called on President Trump to reconsider his decision to cut ties with the WHO.

Meanwhile, in the UK, PM Boris Johnson is facing growing criticism over his plan to start reopening Britain in earnest on Monday…after receiving torrents of criticism that his lockdown measures were overly restrictive.

Finally, some more bad news for Russia as its lockdown measures finally start to lift. After a long streak of slowing cases, the country recorded its highest daily jump in new coronavirus cases in more than a week on Saturday, as the total number of infections closed in on 400k. Brazil also reported another harrowing statistic on Friday evening as it overtook Spain to become the country with the fifth-highest death toll in the world, with ~28k confirmed deaths.

Russian public health officials recorded 8,952 new cases of Covid-19 and 181 deaths from the virus. Official figures on Saturday showed a total of 396,575 infections and 4,555 deaths.